“Take our constitution, wanting certainly as it did many reforms, yet, practically, it afforded the best security that human wisdom had ever given to man.”

Speech in the House of Commons (21 July 1812), quoted in The Parliamentary Debates from the Year 1803 to the Present Time, Vol. XXIII (1812), column 1156

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Take our constitution, wanting certainly as it did many reforms, yet, practically, it afforded the best security that h…" by Richard Brinsley Sheridan?
Richard Brinsley Sheridan photo
Richard Brinsley Sheridan 58
Irish-British politician, playwright and writer 1751–1816

Related quotes

Heraclitus photo

“Though wisdom is common, yet the many live as if they had a wisdom of their own.”

Heraclitus (-535) pre-Socratic Greek philosopher

Fragment 2, as quoted in Against the Mathematicians by Sextus Empiricus
Variant translation: So we must follow the common, yet the many live as if they had a wisdom of their own.
Numbered fragments

T.S. Eliot photo
Robert E. Lee photo

“The framers of our Constitution never exhausted so much labor, wisdom, and forbearance in its formation, and surrounded it with so many guards and securities, if it was intended to be broken by every member of the Confederacy at will. It is intended for 'perpetual Union,' so expressed in the preamble”

Robert E. Lee (1807–1870) Confederate general in the Civil War

Letter to his son http://radgeek.com/gt/2005/01/03/robert-e-Lee-owned-slaves-and-defended-slavery/, G. W. Custis Lee (23 January 1861).
1860s
Context: I can anticipate no greater calamity for the country than a dissolution of the Union. It would be an accumulation of all the evils we complain of, and I am willing to sacrifice everything but honor for its preservation. I hope, therefore, that all constitutional means will be exhausted before there is a resort to force. Secession is nothing but revolution. The framers of our Constitution never exhausted so much labor, wisdom, and forbearance in its formation, and surrounded it with so many guards and securities, if it was intended to be broken by every member of the Confederacy at will. It is intended for 'perpetual Union,' so expressed in the preamble, and for the establishment of a government, not a compact, which can only be dissolved by revolution, or the consent of all the people in convention assembled. It is idle to talk of secession: anarchy would have been established, and not a government, by Washington, Hamilton, Jefferson, Madison, and all the other patriots of the Revolution. … Still, a Union that can only be maintained by swords and bayonets, and in which strife and civil war are to take the place of brotherly love and kindness, has no charm for me. I shall mourn for my country and for the welfare and progress of mankind. If the Union is dissolved and the Government disrupted, I shall return to my native State and share the miseries of my people, and, save in defense will draw my sword on none.

Steve Kagen photo

“We did our job. We took out a murderous dictator in Saddam Hussein and have given the freely elected government of Iraq all the time and money we can afford. It is time to direct our efforts away from Iraq and back after Osama bin Laden and his followers. The Iraqi government must take responsibility for the security of its own people.”

Steve Kagen (1949) American politician

[12 July 2007, http://kagen.house.gov/apps/list/press/wi08_kagen/redeployment.html, "Kagen Sponsors Iraq Redeployment Legislation to Move Away from Iraq and Back After Osama Bin Laden and His Followers", Representative Steve Kagen, U.S. House of Representatives, 2007-07-21]
Iraq

Iain Banks photo
Sean Hannity photo

“The U. S. is the greatest, best country God has ever given man on the face of the earth.”

Sean Hannity (1961) American television host, conservative political commentator

Hannity's America (6 June 2008) http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/174546/june-19-2008/sean-hannity-loves-america

İsmail Enver photo

“We are taking care of our troops today, hence their loyalty. Formerly a rifle was given to a man and he had to shift for himself.”

İsmail Enver (1881–1922) Turkish military officer and a leader of the Young Turk revolution

Quoted in "The Armenian Genocide: News Accounts from the American Press, 1915-1922" - Page 7 - by Richard Diran Kloian - History – 1985.

Democritus photo

“There are many who know many things, yet are lacking in wisdom.”

Democritus Ancient Greek philosopher, pupil of Leucippus, founder of the atomic theory

Source Book in Ancient Philosophy (1907), The Golden Sayings of Democritus

Tulsi Gabbard photo

Related topics