Quote#Work
The fabric of our prosperity is so artificial, we have raised such a…
Quote byRobert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury · 1830–1903
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Defending increased naval expenditure; speech in Bristol (22 April 1889), quoted in The Times (24 April 1889), p. 6.
English (original)
The fabric of our prosperity is so artificial, we have raised such a vast edifice of industry and manufacture and wealth within so narrow an area, that the progress of a hostile army through our country would shatter our prosperity with a ruin which centuries would not repair. (Hear, hear.) In proportion to the danger must be our precaution. (Cheers.) We have to protect ourselves.
— Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
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