Edmund Burke Quotes

I have not yet lost a feeling of wonder, and of delight, that the delicate motion should reside in all the things around us, revealing itself only to him who looks for it.

Nothing turns out to be so oppressive and unjust as a feeble government.

Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants.

Among a people generally corrupt, liberty cannot long exist.

No passion so effectively robs the mind of its powers of acting and reasoning as fear.

War never leaves where it found a nation.

Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny.

A representative owes not just his industry but his judgement

The effect of liberty on individuals is that they may do what they please: we ought to see what it will please them to do before we risk congratulations.

Nobody makes a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little.

I would rather sleep in the southern corner of a little country churchyard than in the tombs of the Capulets.

History is a pact between the dead the living and the yet unborn.

The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion.

The nature of things is, I admit, a sturdy adversary.

All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.

Ambition can creep as well as soar.

Passion for fame: A passion which is the instinct of all great souls.

A State without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation.

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.

Mere parsimony is not economy . . . expense and great expense may be an essential part of true economy.

Dangers by being despised grow great.

Poetry is the art of substantiating shadows, and of lending existence to nothing.

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.

The human mind is often, and I think it is for the most part, in a state neither of pain nor pleasure, which I call a state of indifference.

You can never plan the future by the past.

Queen of arts and daughter of heaven.

No power so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear.

Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the

If we command our wealth, we shall be rich and free. If our wealth commands us, we are poor indeed.

The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse.

The writers against religion whilst they oppose every system are wisely careful never to set up any of their own.

The arrogance of age must submit to be taught by youth.

Facts are to the mind what food is to the body.

There is a courageous wisdom there is also a false reptile prudence the result not of caution but of fear.

We must all obey the great law of change. It is the most powerful law of nature.

All government, indeed every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue, and every prudent act, is founded on compromise and barter.

All government - indeed every human benefit and enjoyment every virtue and every prudent act - is founded on compromise and barter.

Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.

Nothing is so fatal to religion as indifference.

Never despair but if you do work on in despair.

What shadows we are what shadows we pursue!

Politics and the pulpit are terms that have little agreement.

There is a boundary to men's passions when they act from feelings but none when they are under the influence of imagination.

Custom reconciles us to everything.

Education is the cheap defense of nations.

It is generally, in the season of prosperity that men discover their real temper, principles and design.

He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skills. Our antagonist is our helper.

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

All That Is Needed For Evil To Succeeded, Is For Good People To Do Nothing