When the leaders choose to make themselves bidders at an auction of popularity, their talents, in the construction of the state, will be of no service. They will become flatterers instead of legislators; the instruments, not the guides, of the people.

— Edmund Burke Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)

More quotes by Edmund Burke

Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)

Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents (1770)

Speech at a County Meeting of Buckinghamshire (1784)

A Letter to a Member of the National Assembly (1791)

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Edmund Burke (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.