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Quote#Politics & Power

I have heard it stated — and I confess with some surprise — as an…

Quote byRobert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury · 1830–1903

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Speech to the United Club (15 July 1891), quoted in The Times (16 July 1891), p. 10.

English (original)

I have heard it stated — and I confess with some surprise — as an article of Conservative opinion that paternal Government — that is to say, the use of the machinery of Government for the benefit of the people — is a thing in itself detestable and wicked. I am unable to subscribe to that doctrine, either politically or historically.

— Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury

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