Break Quote by Charles Babbage
“Precedents are treated by powerful minds as fetters with which to bind down the weak, as reasons with which to mistify the moderately informed, and as reeds which they themselves fearlessly break through whenever new combinations and difficult emergencies demand their highest efforts.”
About This Quote
Source Essay: On the Power of Precedent, 1845
Powerful people manipulate past decisions to control others, yet they break those very rules when needed.
In simple terms: Authority often twists precedent, but flexibility wins in crises.
Key Takeaway
Question and adapt rules when circumstances change.
Themes
power
precedent
flexibility
ethics
Mood
critical
analytical
cautious
Type
philosophical
political
When to use this quote
- legal reform
- organizational change
- crisis management
- policy making
Key Concepts
social control
critical thinking
innovation
Questions to Reflect On
- When should tradition be challenged?
- Who decides which precedents are valid?
A Different Perspective
Rigid adherence can stifle progress.
![“Science in England is not a profession: its cultivators are scarcely recognised even as a class. Our language itself contains no single term by which their occupation can be expressed. We borrow a foreign word [Savant] from another country whose high ambition it is to advance science, and whose…” quote by Charles Babbage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/b12/charles-babbage-8461_accord_science-in-england-is-not-a-profession-i_256777.jpg)
