Selections from the Speeches and Writings of Edmund BurkeBurke, Edmund
Philosophy
Selections from the Speeches and Writings of Edmund Burke
Burke, Edmund
Burke, Edmund, 1729-1797; Essays; Political science; Speeches, addresses, etc.
There is an implied contract, much stronger than any instrument or
article of agreement between the labourer in any occupation and his
employer--that the labour, so far as that labour is concerned, shall
be sufficient to pay to the employer a profit on his capital, and a
compensation for his risk; in a word, that the labour shall produce an
advantage equal to the payment. Whatever is above that, is a direct
TAX; and if the amount of that tax be left to the will and pleasure of
another, it is an ARBITRARY TAX.
DISAPPOINTED AMBITION.
The true cause of his drawing so shocking a picture is no more
than this, and it ought rather to claim our pity than excite our
indignation;--he finds himself out of power; and this condition is
intolerable to him. The same sun which gilds all nature, and exhilarates
the whole creation, does not shine upon disappointed ambition. It is
something that rays out of darkness, and inspires nothing but gloom
and melancholy. Men in this deplorable state of mind find a comfort in
spreading the contagion of their spleen. They find an advantage too; for
it is a general popular error to imagine the loudest complainers for
the public to be the most anxious for its welfare. If such persons can
answer the ends of relief and profit to themselves, they are apt to be
careless enough about either the means or the consequences.
DIFFICULTY AN INSTRUCTOR.
Their purpose everywhere seems to have been to evade and slip aside from
DIFFICULTY. This it has been the glory of the great masters in all the
arts to confront, and to overcome; and when they had overcome the first
difficulty, to turn it into an instrument for new conquests over new
difficulties; thus to enable them to extend the empire of their science;
and even to push forward, beyond the reach of their original thoughts,
the landmarks of the human understanding itself. Difficulty is a severe
instructor, set over us by the supreme ordinance of a parental Guardian
and Legislator, who knows us better than we know ourselves, as he loves
us better too. Pater ipse colendi haud facilem esse viam voluit. He that
wrestles with us strengthens our nerves, and sharpens our skill. Our
antagonist is our helper. This amicable conflict with difficulty obliges
us to an intimate acquaintance with our object, and compels us
to consider it in all its relations. It will not suffer us to be
superficial. It is the want of nerves of understanding for such a
task, it is the degenerate fondness for tricking short-cuts, and little
fallacious facilities, that has in so many parts of the world created
governments with arbitrary powers. They have created the late arbitrary
monarchy of France; they have created the arbitrary republic of Paris.
With them defects in wisdom are to be supplied by the plenitude of
force. They get nothing by it. Commencing their labours on a
principle of sloth, they have the common fortune of slothful men. The
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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