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Quotation from The Burke-Paine Debate on the French Revolution by Edmund Burke and Thomas Paine
“What is the use of discussing a man's abstract right to food or medicine? The question is upon the method of procuring and administering them.”
The Burke-Paine Debate on the French Revolution, Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), on the real rights of men (The Works of Edmund Burke, vol. 3 (Nimmo), Project Gutenberg #15679; library text of reflections-on-the-revolution-in-france)
Burke argues that rights in civil society are matters of practical arrangement, not abstract definition.
Citation: "What is the use of discussing a man's abstract right to food or medicine? The question is upon the method of procuring and administering them." — Edmund Burke and Thomas Paine, The Burke-Paine Debate on the French Revolution, Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), on the real rights of men (The Works of Edmund Burke, vol. 3 (Nimmo), Project Gutenberg #15679; library text of reflections-on-the-revolution-in-france). (id burke-paine-debate-q1)
Virtues: Prudence
Portrait: Sir Joshua Reynolds - Edmund Burke, 1729 - 1797. Statesman, orator and author - PG 2362 - National Galleries of Scotland, Joshua Reynolds, Public domain.
