--- title: "4 Equal rights Quotes By Edmund Burke" description: "4 Equal rights quotes by Edmund Burke. Plus more from Edmund Burke and more Equal rights sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/00e/edmund-burke-400_civil-society_the-levellers-only-change-and-pervert-th_832648.jpg" --- > [“The Levellers . . . only change and pervert the natural order of things: they load the edifice of society by setting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/the-levellers-only-change-and-pervert-the-natural-order-of-things/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/00e/edmund-burke-400_civil-society_the-levellers-only-change-and-pervert-th_832648.jpg) > [Whatever each man can separately do, without trespassing upon others, he has a right to do for himself; and he has a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/whatever-each-man-can-separately-do-without-trespassing-upon-others/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dbc/edmund-burke-400_can-do_whatever-each-man-can-separately-do-with_880652.jpg) > [All men have equal rights, but not to equal things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/all-men-have-equal-rights-but-not-to-equal-things/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d95/edmund-burke-400_equal_all-men-have-equal-rights-but-not-to-equ_1214155.jpg) > [“Far am I from denying in theory, full as far is my heart from withholding in practice, (if I were of power…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/far-am-i-from-denying-in-theory-full-as-far-is-my-heart-from/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bc6/edmund-burke-400_civil-society_far-am-i-from-denying-in-theory-full-as_1399512.jpg) ## Other authors on Equal rights - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b023/author-thomas-jefferson-90435.jpg) Thomas Jefferson 10 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/equal-rights/thomas-jefferson/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b012/author-james-madison-46533.jpg) James Madison 7 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/equal-rights/james-madison/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b019/author-patricia-arquette-73493.jpg) Patricia Arquette 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/equal-rights/patricia-arquette/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b010/author-friedrich-nietzsche-36363.jpg) Friedrich Nietzsche 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/equal-rights/friedrich-nietzsche/) ## More by Edmund Burke > [It is the interest of the commercial world that wealth should be found everywhere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/it-is-the-interest-of-the-commercial-world-that-wealth-should-be/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [“Many of the greatest tyrants on the records of history have begun their reigns in the fairest manner. But the truth is, this unnatural…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/many-of-the-greatest-tyrants-on-the-records-of-history-have-begun/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [In this choice of inheritance we have given to our frame of polity the image of a relation in blood; binding up the constitution…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/in-this-choice-of-inheritance-we-have-given-to-our-frame-of-polity/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [“Wise men will apply their remedies to vices, not to names; to the causes of evil which are permanent, not to the occasional organs…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/wise-men-will-apply-their-remedies-to-vices-not-to-names-to-the/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [“A man full of warm, speculative benevolence may wish his society otherwise constituted than he finds it; but a good patriot, and a true…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/a-man-full-of-warm-speculative-benevolence-may-wish-his-society/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [My vigour relents. I pardon something to the spirit of liberty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/my-vigour-relents-i-pardon-something-to-the-spirit-of-liberty/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [A speculative despair is unpardonable where it our duty to act.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/a-speculative-despair-is-unpardonable-where-it-our-duty-to-act/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [The great must submit to the dominion of prudence and of virtue, or none will long submit to the dominion of thegreat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/the-great-must-submit-to-the-dominion-of-prudence-and-of-virtue-or/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [Those who have been once intoxicated with power, and have derived any kind of emolument from it, even though but for one year, never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/those-who-have-been-once-intoxicated-with-power-and-have-derived-any/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [What is it we all seek for in an election? To answer its real purposes, you must first possess the means of knowing the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/what-is-it-we-all-seek-for-in-an-election-to-answer-its-real-purposes/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [Society is indeed a contract. It is a partnership in all science; a partnership in all art; a partnership in every virtue, and in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/society-is-indeed-a-contract-it-is-a-partnership-in-all-science-a/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [You can never plan the future by the past.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/you-can-never-plan-the-future-by-the-past/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [The great inlet by which a colour for oppression has entered into the world is by one man's pretending to determine concerning the happiness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/the-great-inlet-by-which-a-colour-for-oppression-has-entered-into-the/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [By the disposition of a stupendous wisdom, moulding together the great mysterious incorporation of the human race, the whole, at one time, is never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/by-the-disposition-of-a-stupendous-wisdom-moulding-together-the-great/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [Religion, to have any force upon men's understandings,--indeed, to exist at all,--must be supposed paramount to law, and independent for its substance upon any…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/religion-to-have-any-force-upon-men-s-understandings-indeed-to-exist/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/equal-rights/edmund-burke/#itemlist", "name": "4 Equal rights Quotes By Edmund Burke", "numberOfItems": 4, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The Levellers . . . only change and pervert the natural order of things: they load the edifice of society by setting up in the air what the solidity of the structure requires to be on the ground. . . . Far am I from denying in theory, full as far is my heart from withholding in practice (if I were of power to give or to withhold), the real rights of men. In denying their false claims of right, I do not mean to injure those which are real, and are such as their pretended rights would totally destroy. . . . In this partnership all men have equal rights; but not to equal things. . . . Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants. Men have a right that these wants should be provided for by this wisdom. Among these wants is to be reckoned the want, out of civil society, of a sufficient restraint upon their passions. Society requires not only that the passions of individuals should be subjected, but that even in the mass and body, as well as in the individuals, the inclinations of men should frequently be thwarted, their will controlled, and their passions brought into subjection. This can only be done by a power out of themselves, and not, in the exercise of its function, subject to that will and to those passions which it is its office to bridle and subdue. In this sense the restraints on men, as well as their liberties, are to be reckoned among their rights. . . . Society is, indeed, a contract. Subordinate contracts for objects of mere occasional interest may be dissolved at pleasure; but the state ought not to be considered as nothing better than a partnership agreement in a trade of pepper and coffee, calico or tobacco, or some other such low concern, to be taken up for a little temporary interest, and to be dissolved by the fancy of the parties. It is to looked on with other reverence; because it is not a partnership in things subservient only to the gross animal existence of a temporary and perishable nature. It is a partnership in all science, a partnership in all art, a partnership in every virtue and in all perfection. As the ends of such a partnership cannot be obtained in many generations, it becomes a partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born. . . . You would not cure the evil by resolving that there should be no more monarchs, nor ministers of state, nor of the Gospel— no interpreters of law, no general officers, no public councils. You might change the names: the things in some shape must remain. A certain quantum of power must always exist in the community, in some hands, and under some appellation. Wise men will apply their remedies to vices, not to names— to the causes of evil, which are permanent, not to the occasional organs by which they act, and the transitory modes in which they appear. Otherwise you will be wise historically, a fool in practice. . . . The effects of the incapacity shown by the popular leaders in all the great members of the commonwealth are to be covered with the 'all-atoning name' of Liberty. . . . 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 know what virtuous liberty is cannot bear to see it disgraced by incapable heads, on account of their having high-sounding words in their mouths. . . . To make a government requires no great prudence. Settle the seat of power, teach obedience, and the work is done. To give freedom is still more easy. It is not necessary to guide; it only requires to let go the rein. 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In this partnership all men have equal rights; but not to equal things.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Edmund Burke" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/whatever-each-man-can-separately-do-without-trespassing-upon-others/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dbc/edmund-burke-400_can-do_whatever-each-man-can-separately-do-with_880652.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dbc/edmund-burke-400_can-do_whatever-each-man-can-separately-do-with_880652.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dbc/edmund-burke-400_can-do_whatever-each-man-can-separately-do-with_880652.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Whatever each man can separately do, without trespassing upon others, he has a right to do for himself; and…” — Edmund Burke", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "All men have equal rights, but not to equal things.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Edmund Burke" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/all-men-have-equal-rights-but-not-to-equal-things/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d95/edmund-burke-400_equal_all-men-have-equal-rights-but-not-to-equ_1214155.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d95/edmund-burke-400_equal_all-men-have-equal-rights-but-not-to-equ_1214155.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d95/edmund-burke-400_equal_all-men-have-equal-rights-but-not-to-equ_1214155.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“All men have equal rights, but not to equal things.” — Edmund Burke", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Far am I from denying in theory, full as far is my heart from withholding in practice, (if I were of power to give or to withhold,) the real rights of men. In denying their false claims of right, I do not mean to injure those which are real, and are such as their pretended rights would totally destroy. If civil society be made for the advantage of man, all the advantages for which it is made become his right. It is an institution of beneficience; and law itself is only beneficience acting by a rule. Men have a right to live by that rule; they have a right to do justice, as between their fellows, whether their fellows are in public function or in ordinary occupation. They have a right to the fruits of their industry, and to the means of making their industry fruitful. They have a right to the acquisitions of their parents; to the nourishment and improvement of their offspring; to instruction in life, and to consolation in death. Whatever each man can separately do, without trespassing upon others, he has a right to do for himself; and he has a right to a fair portion of all which society, with all its combinations of skill and force, can do in his favor. In this partnership all men have equal rights; but not to equal things. He that has but five shillings in the partnership, has as good a right to it, as he that has five hundred pounds has to his larger proportion. But he has not a right to an equal dividend in the product of the joint stock; and as to the share of power, authority, and direction which each individual ought to have in the management of the state, that I must deny to be amongst the direct original rights of man in civil society; for I have in my contemplation the civil social man, and no other. 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