Man Was Not Made for the Government

English statesman Edmund Burke told the sheriffs of his constituency, Bristol, that liberty requires light and very careful regulation for it to survive. If the restrictions are too heavy or driven by some inflexible ideology unsuited to a specific people, they will strangle liberty and harm the nation.

48 words

Read the whole story

Return to the Index

Related Posts

for Man Was Not Made for the Government

The British Constitution

Wait and See

Edmund Burke urged Englishmen not to congratulate the French revolutionaries on their new-found liberty until they knew what they would do with it.

American Revolutionary War

English Spirit

Edmund Burke told the House of Commons that the American colonies’ refusal to be dictated to by Westminster was the very spirit that had made the Empire great.

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.