Nothing ought to be more weighed than the nature of books recommended by public authority. So recommended, they soon form the character of the age.
Edmund BurkeVice incapacitates a man from all public duty; it withers the powers of his under- standing, and makes his mind paralytic.
Edmund BurkeBut a good patriot, and a true politician, always considers how he shall make the most of the existing materials of his country. A disposition, to preserve, and an ability to improve, taken together, would be my standard of a statesman. Everything else is vulgar in the conception, perilous in the execution.
Edmund Burke