The Copy Book › There is No Liberty without Self-Control

The Copy Book

There is No Liberty without Self-Control by Edmund Burke Anti-Christian governments don’t make us free, they just impose their own, illiberal morality.

1791

About this picture …

Long Ashton Church in Ashton Vale, Bristol, the city where Burke was an MP.

There is No Liberty without Self-Control

Edmund Burke MP explained to the new secularist French Revolutionaries that if you reject Christian self-control, the government will impose its own morality, and then you won’t be free anymore.

by Edmund Burke 1729-1797

MEN are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites, - in proportion as their love to justice is above their rapacity, - in proportion as their soundness and sobriety of understanding is above their vanity and presumption, - in proportion as they are more disposed to listen to the counsels of the wise and good, in preference to the flattery of knaves.

Society cannot exist, unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere; and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without.

It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.

Source

A Letter To A Member Of The National Assembly (1791).

How To Use This Passage

You can use this passage to help improve your command of English.

IRead it aloud, twice or more. IISummarise it in one sentence of up to 30 words. IIISummarise it in one paragraph of 40-80 words. IVMake notes on the passage, and reconstruct the original from them later on. VJot down any unfamiliar words, and make your own sentences with them later. VIMake a note of any words that surprise or impress you, and ask yourself what meaning they add to the words you would have expected to see. VIITurn any old-fashioned English into modern English. VIIITurn prose into verse, and verse into prose. IXAsk yourself what the author is trying to get you to feel or think. XHow would an artist or a photographer capture the scene? XIHow would a movie director shoot it, or a composer write incidental music for it?

For these and more ideas, see How to Use The Copy Book.

for There is No Liberty without Self-Control

Liberty and Prosperity

The Most Perfect State of Civil Liberty

Chinese merchant Lien Chi tells a colleague that English liberties have little to do with elections, taxes and regulations.

by Oliver Goldsmith 1728-1774

Georgian Era

The Cradle of Our Race

Edmund Burke warned that the French Revolution could have a devastating effect on British and European culture.

by Edmund Burke 1729-1797

Liberty and Prosperity

A Pledge to the People

Edmund Burke pleaded with Parliament to emerge from behind closed doors and reconnect with the British public.

by Edmund Burke 1729-1797

Liberty and Prosperity

Man Was Not Made for the Government

Good government is not about enforcing uniform order, but about maximising liberty among a particular people.

by Edmund Burke 1729-1797

Source

Tags

How To Use This Passage

Related Posts

for There is No Liberty without Self-Control