“The individual is foolish; the multitude, for the moment is foolish, when they act without deliberation; but the species is wise, and, when time is given to it, as a species it always acts right.”

— Edmund Burke

Speech on Reform of Representation in the House of Commons (7 May 1782)
1780s

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Edmund Burke 270

Anglo-Irish statesman 1729–1797

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“The individual is foolish; the multitude, for the moment is foolish, when they act without deliberation; but the species is wise, and, when time is given to it, as a species it always acts right.”

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Edmund Burke 270

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