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Quote#Politics & Power

Moderation, especially in the matter of territory, has never been…

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

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: 'The Danish Duchies', Quarterly Review, vol. 115 (January & April 1864), p. 239.

English (original)

Moderation, especially in the matter of territory, has never been characteristic of democracy. Wherever it has had free play, in the ancient world or in the modern, in the old hemisphere or the new, a thirst for empire, and a readiness for aggressive war, has always marked it.

— Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury

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