“ Men are in public life as in private, some good, some evil. ”
Edmund Burke, Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents (1770). copy citation
| Author | Edmund Burke |
|---|---|
| Source | Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents |
| Topic | evil life |
| Date | 1770 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Thoughts_on_the_Cause_of_the_Present_Disc... |
Context
“We must softeninto a credulity below the milkiness of infancy, to think all men virtuous. We must be tainted with a malignity truly diabolical, to believe all the world to be equally wicked and corrupt. Men are in public life as in private, some good, some evil. The elevation of the one, and the depression of the other, are the first objects of all true policy. But that form of Government, which, neither in its direct institutions, nor in their immediate tendency, has contrived to throw its affairs into the most trustworthy hands, but has left its whole executory system to be disposed of agreeably to the uncontrouled pleasure of any one man, however excellent or virtuous, is a plan of polity defective not only in that member, but consequentially erroneous in every part of it.”
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