“Indeed, Burke argues that change, understood in this way as “a principle of growth,” is not only permissible but essential, and essential precisely to the task of preserving the existing order.49 “A state without the means of some change is… — Yuval Levin Copy Share Image
“On the scheme of this barbarous philosophy,” Burke wrote in the Reflections, “which is the offspring of cold hearts and muddy understandings, and which… — Yuval Levin Copy Share
“Kings will be tyrants from policy when subjects are rebels from principle,” Burke writes.” — Yuval Levin Copy Share
“What is remarkable in Burke’s first performance,” wrote his great nineteenth-century biographer John Morley, “is his discernment of the important fact that behind the… — Yuval Levin Copy Share
“Burke argued that political parties were not, as many people insisted, factions each contending for its own particular advantage, but rather were bodies of… — Yuval Levin Copy Share
“Justice is itself the great standing policy of civil society; and any eminent departure from it, under any circumstances, lies under the suspicion of… — Yuval Levin Copy Share
“Believe me, sir,” he writes in the Reflections, “those who attempt to level never equalize. In all societies consisting of various descriptions of citizens,… — Yuval Levin Copy Share
“Burke was not a sentimentalist, however.43 “Leave a man to his passions,” he wrote, “and you leave a wild beast to a savage and… — Yuval Levin Copy Share
“Men little think how immorally they act in rashly meddling with what they do not understand. Their delusive good intention is no sort of… — Yuval Levin Copy Share
“The idea of forcing every thing to an artificial equality has something, at first view, very captivating in it,” Burke writes. “It has all… — Yuval Levin Copy Share
“The middle layers of society, where people see each other face to face, offer a middle ground between radical individualism and extreme centralization. Our… — Yuval Levin Copy Share
“The experience of seeing differences of dogma made moot in practice by the bonds of family affection and neighborly respect was formative for him.… — Yuval Levin Copy Share
“The government of human beings, he argued, is a matter not of applying cold rules and principles, but of tending to warm sentiments and… — Yuval Levin Copy Share
“Indeed, Burke argues that change, understood in this way as “a principle of growth,” is not only permissible but essential, and essential precisely to… — Yuval Levin Copy Share
