“ No man apprehends in his person that he can be made subject to punishment. Certainly the people at large never ought, for as all punishments are for example toward the conservation of the people at large, the people at large can never become the subject of punishment by any human hand. ”
Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790). copy citation
| Author | Edmund Burke |
|---|---|
| Source | Reflections on the Revolution in France |
| Topic | conservation punishment |
| Date | 1790 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Reflections_on_the_Revolution_in_France |
Context
“Their own approbation of their own acts has to them the appearance of a
public judgment in their favor. A perfect democracy is, therefore, the most
shameless thing in the world. As it is the most shameless, it is also the
most fearless. No man apprehends in his person that he can be made subject
to punishment. Certainly the people at large never ought, for as all
punishments are for example toward the conservation of the people at large,
the people at large can never become the subject of punishment by any human
hand. [21] It is therefore of infinite importance that they should not be
suffered to imagine that their will, any more than that of kings, is the
standard of right and wrong. They ought to be persuaded that they are full”
source
