Page:A Vindication of Natural Society - Burke (1756).djvu/12

 these Reasonings, we might be carried insensibly and irresistably farther than at first we could either have imagined or wished. But for my part, my, I then thought, and am still of the same Opinion, that Error, and not Truth of any Kind, is dangerous; that ill Conclusions can only flow from false Propositions; and that, to know whether any Proposition be true or false, it is a preposterous Method to examine it by it's apparent Consequences.

These were the Reasons which induced me to go so far into that Enquiry; and they are the Reasons which direct me in all my Enquiries. I had indeed often reflected on that Subject before I could prevail upon myself to communicate my Reflections to any body. They were generally melancholy enough; as those usually are which carry us beyond the mere Surface of Things; and which would undoubtedly make the Lives of all thinking Men extremely miserable, if the same Philosophy