Edmund Burke Quotes And Sayings

Edmund Burke was an Irish statesman born in Dublin, as well as an author, orator, political theorist, and philosopher who, after moving to London, served as a member of parliament for many years in the House of Commons with the Whig Party. Burke is remembered mainly for his support of the cause of the American Revolutionaries, Catholic emancipation, the impeachment of Warren Hastings from the East India Company. In the nineteenth century Burke was praised by both conservatives and liberals. Subsequently, in the twentieth century, he became widely regarded as the philosophical founder of modern conservatism.

The Only Thing Necessary For The Triumph Of Evil Is For Good Men To Do Nothing.

He That Wrestles With Us Strengthens Our Nerves And Sharpens Our Skill. Our Antagonist Is Our Helper.

Nobody Made A Greater Mistake Than He Who Did Nothing Because He Could Do Only A Little.

Good Order Is The Foundation Of All Things.

Frugality Is Founded On The Principal That All Riches Have Limits.

A State Without The Means Of Some Change Is Without The Means Of Its Conservation.

We Must All Obey The Great Law Of Change. It Is The Most Powerful Law Of Nature.

Under The Pressure Of The Cares And Sorrows Of Our Mortal Condition, Men Have At All Times, And In All Countries, Called In Some Physical Aid To Their Moral Consolations - Wine, Beer, Opium, Brandy, Or Tobacco.

When The Leaders Choose To Make Themselves Bidders At An Auction Of Popularity, Their Talents, In The Construction Of The State, Will Be Of No Service. They Will Become Flatterers Instead Of Legislators; The Instruments, Not The Guides, Of The People.

All Tyranny Needs To Gain A Foothold Is For People Of Good Conscience To Remain Silent.

People Crushed By Laws, Have No Hope But To Evade Power. If The Laws Are Their Enemies, They Will Be Enemies To The Law; And Those Who Have Most To Hope And Nothing To Lose Will Always Be Dangerous.

It Is Not What A Lawyer Tells Me I May Do; But What Humanity, Reason, And Justice Tell Me I Ought To Do.

You Can Never Plan The Future By The Past.

The Effect Of Liberty To Individuals Is That They May Do What They Please: We Ought To See What It Will Please Them To Do, Before We Risk Congratulations.

In A Democracy, The Majority Of The Citizens Is Capable Of Exercising The Most Cruel Oppressions Upon The Minority.

The Arrogance Of Age Must Submit To Be Taught By Youth.

The First And Simplest Emotion Which We Discover In The Human Mind, Is Curiosity.

Hypocrisy Can Afford To Be Magnificent In Its Promises, For Never Intending To Go Beyond Promise, It Costs Nothing.

But The Age Of Chivalry Is Gone. That Of Sophisters, Economists, And Calculators Has Succeeded; And The Glory Of Europe Is Extinguished Forever.

But What Is Liberty Without Wisdom, And Without Virtue? It Is The Greatest Of All Possible Evils; For It Is Folly, Vice, And Madness, Without Tuition Or Restraint.

Those Who Don't Know History Are Destined To Repeat It.

Beauty In Distress Is Much The Most Affecting Beauty.

A Spirit Of Innovation Is Generally The Result Of A Selfish Temper And Confined Views. People Will Not Look Forward To Posterity, Who Never Look Backward To Their Ancestors.

It Is Ordained In The Eternal Constitution Of Things, That Men Of Intemperate Minds Cannot Be Free. Their Passions Forge Their Fetters.

Religion Is Essentially The Art And The Theory Of The Remaking Of Man. Man Is Not A Finished Creation.

The Person Who Grieves Suffers His Passion To Grow Upon Him; He Indulges It, He Loves It; But This Never Happens In The Case Of Actual Pain, Which No Man Ever Willingly Endured For Any Considerable Time.

Society Can Overlook Murder, Adultery Or Swindling; It Never Forgives Preaching Of A New Gospel.

Beauty Is The Promise Of Happiness.

It Is A General Popular Error To Suppose The Loudest Complainers For The Public To Be The Most Anxious For Its Welfare.

Ambition Can Creep As Well As Soar.

If We Command Our Wealth, We Shall Be Rich And Free; If Our Wealth Commands Us, We Are Poor Indeed.

Mere Parsimony Is Not Economy. Expense, And Great Expense, May Be An Essential Part In True Economy.

Our Patience Will Achieve More Than Our Force.

To Make Us Love Our Country, Our Country Ought To Be Lovely.

There Is But One Law For All, Namely That Law Which Governs All Law, The Law Of Our Creator, The Law Of Humanity, Justice, Equity - The Law Of Nature And Of Nations.

Slavery Is A Weed That Grows On Every Soil.

Circumstances Give In Reality To Every Political Principle Its Distinguishing Color And Discriminating Effect. The Circumstances Are What Render Every Civil And Political Scheme Beneficial Or Noxious To Mankind.

Magnanimity In Politics Is Not Seldom The Truest Wisdom; And A Great Empire And Little Minds Go Ill Together.

What Ever Disunites Man From God, Also Disunites Man From Man.

One That Confounds Good And Evil Is An Enemy To Good.

He That Struggles With Us Strengthens Our Nerves, And Sharpens Our Skill. Our Antagonist Is Our Helper.

The Most Important Of All Revolutions, A Revolution In Sentiments, Manners And Moral Opinions.

Your Representative Owes You, Not His Industry Only, But His Judgment; And He Betrays Instead Of Serving You If He Sacrifices It To Your Opinion.

When Bad Men Combine, The Good Must Associate; Else They Will Fall One By One, An Unpitied Sacrifice In A Contemptible Struggle.

Facts Are To The Mind What Food Is To The Body.

Whenever Our Neighbour's House Is On Fire, It Cannot Be Amiss For The Engines To Play A Little On Our Own.

Nothing Turns Out To Be So Oppressive And Unjust As A Feeble Government.

Superstition Is The Religion Of Feeble Minds.

Never Despair, But If You Do, Work On In Despair.

Justice Is Itself The Great Standing Policy Of Civil Society; And Any Eminent Departure From It, Under Any Circumstances, Lies Under The Suspicion Of Being No Policy At All.