It is a simple truth that the human mind can face better the most oppressive government, the most rigid restrictions, than the awful prospect of a lawless, frontierless world. Freedom is a dangerous intoxicant and very few people can tolerate it in any quantity; it brings out the old raiding, oppressing, murderous instincts; the rage for revenge, for power, the lust for bloodshed. The longing for freedom takes the form of crushing the enemy- there is always the enemy! - into the earth; and where and who is the enemy if there is no visible establishment to attack, to destroy with blood and fire? Remember all that oratory when freedom is threatened again. Freedom, remember, is not the same as liberty. . Katherine Anne Porter
About This Quote

Edmund Burke warned about the danger of the French Revolution. He warned that if it were to achieve what it promised, it would bring with it a new kind of government that would be completely incompatible with the principles of the British constitution. He warned that this new form of government would set out to destroy all forms of authority and change the very nature of society itself.

Source: The Neverending Wrong

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More Quotes By Katherine Anne Porter
  1. Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.

  2. There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.

  3. I am the captain of my soul.

  4. A Nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but it's lowest ones

  5. A winner is a dreamer who never gives up

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