“Of this stamp is the cant of, Not men, but measures.”
Volume i, p. 531
Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents (1770)
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Edmund Burke 270
Anglo-Irish statesman 1729–1797Related quotes

Source: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity (1873-1874), Ch. 4
Context: Men have an all but incurable propensity to try to prejudge all the great questions which interest them by stamping their prejudices upon their language. Law, in many cases, means not only a command, but a beneficent command. Liberty means not the bare absence of restraint, but the absence of injurious restraint. Justice means not mere impartiality in applying general rules to particular cases, but impartiality in applying beneficent general rules to particular cases. Some people half consciously use the word "true" as meaning useful as well as true. Of course language can never be made absolutely neutral and colourless; but unless its ambiguities are understood, accuracy of thought is impossible, and the injury done is proportionate to the logical force and general vigour of character of those who are misled.

“Measures, not men, have always been my mark.”
Act II.
The Good-Natured Man (1768)

“The fears of one class of men are not the measure of the rights of another.”
Vol. 1, ch. 10, p. 365
A History of the United States (1834-74)

Reply in the Senate to William H. Seward (29 February 1860), Senate Chamber, U.S. Capitol. As quoted in The Papers of Jefferson Davis, Volume 6, pp. 277–84. Transcribed from the Congressional Globe, 36th Congress, 1st Session, pp. 916–18.
1860s

“Choice word and measured phrase, above the reach
Of ordinary men.”
Stanza 14.
Resolution and Independence (1807)
On receiving a letter from President Bush.
Kentwood News-Ledger http://www.webcitation.org/query?id=1256525767147879&url=www.geocities.com/thecoolchip03/taylorpresidentbush.htm article, unidentified issue.
“For not by numbers of men, nor by measure of body, but by valor of soul is war to be decided.”
As quoted in 100 Decisive Battles : From Ancient Times to the Present (2001) by Paul K. Davis, p. 93; cited to the records of Procopius, in Procopius, Vol. IV, I, pp. 15-16.