[18]
But a statesman,
acting on your behalf, ought not to follow up the hasty sentiments that
accompany your anger, but should be guided by reasons, by events, by the
opportunities that present themselves. For sentiments are wont to change
quickly, but reasons to subsist for a longer period. Paying no regard to this
the defendant detects the secret weakness of community, so that the same policy
is bound to be ratified one day and repealed the next.
Demosthenes. Demosthenes with an English translation by A. T. Murray, Ph.D., LL.D. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1939.
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