Skip to content
Shawords

Quote#Wisdom

There are many things a parliament cannot do. It cannot make itself…

Quote byWilliam Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham · 1708–1778

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Speech in the House of Commons (1766), quoted in Parliamentary History of England (London, 1813), vol. 6, col. 195..

English (original)

There are many things a parliament cannot do. It cannot make itself executive, nor dispose of offices which belong to the crown. It cannot take any man's property, even that of the meanest cottager, as in the case of enclosures, without his being heard.

— William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham

More from William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham