Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989.
| NUMBER: | 1787 |
| AUTHOR: | Edmund Burke (1729–97) |
| QUOTATION: | To please universally was the object of his life; but to tax and to please, no more than to love and to be wise, is not given to men. |
| ATTRIBUTION: | Burke was referring to the chancellor of the exchequer, Charles Townshend. |
| SUBJECTS: | Taxation |