“People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors.”
Volume iii, p. 274
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)
“Posterity always degenerates till it becomes our ancestors.”
As quoted in "The Works of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford" in The Monthly Review, or, Literary Journal, Vol. 27 (1798) edited by Ralph Griffiths, p. 187
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Horace Walpole 33
English art historian, man of letters, antiquarian and Whig… 1717–1797Related quotes
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In a debate in the Irish House of Commons on the vote of a grant which was recommended by Sir John Parnell, Chancellor of the Exchequer, as one not likely to be felt burdensome for many years to come, it was observed in reply that the House had no right to load posterity with a debt for what could in no degree operate to their advantage. This quotation was Sir Boyle's response.
[Barrington, Jonah, Personal sketches and recollections of his own times, Chapter XVII https://archive.org/details/personalsketche06barrgoog]