埃德蒙·柏克：“我们不敢让人们仅凭自己的个人理性去生活和交易，因为我们深知个人的理性资本非常有限；我们宁愿他们去利用各国各时代积累起来的公共知识与智慧的总库。”

《史记》中的类似言论有：“奋其私智而不师古”，“事不师古而能长久者，非所闻也”。

Edmund Burke：“We are afraid to put men to live and trade each on his own private stock of reason; because we suspect that this stock in each man is small, and that the individuals would do better to avail themselves of the general bank and capital of nations and of ages.”