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Portrait of Edmund Burke

Edmund Burke

(1729–1797) Philosopher United States

595 quotes in 1765 categories

If you’re looking for a voice that shaped modern political thought, this trove of Burke’s words offers a solid foothold. From sharp critiques to timeless reflections, the collection captures the breadth of his influence without overwhelming the reader.

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Edmund Burke was a philosopher from the United States, best known for An account of the European settlements in America.

Quick Facts About Edmund Burke

Born: January 12, 1729
Died: July 9, 1797
Nationality: United States
Profession: Philosopher
Notable works: An account of the European settlements in America

About Edmund Burke

Edmund Burke was an Anglo-Irish writer, philosopher, and politician who is widely credited as the founder of the cultural and political philosophy of conservatism. Regarded as one of the most influential conservative thinkers and political writers of the 18th century, Burke spent the majority of his career in Great Britain and was elected as a member of Parliament (MP) from 1766 to 1794 in the House of Commons of Great Britain with the Whig Party. His writings played a significant role in influencing public views and opinions in both Great Britain and France following the French Revolution in 1789, and he remains a major figure in modern conservative circles.

Biography source: Wikipedia

Quotes by Edmund Burke

War never leaves where it found a nation.

Found

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Evil succeeds when good men do nothing

Evil

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The march of the human mind is slow.

Human mind

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Ambition can creep as well as soar.

Ambition

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Evil prevails when good men fail to act.

Action

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Futurity is the great concern of mankind.

Concern

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One source of the sublime is infinity.

Infinity

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A coward's courage is in his tongue.

Courage

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Never despair, but if you do, work in despair

Despair

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Next to love, Sympathy is the divinest passion of the human heart.

Heart

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Those who have been intoxicated with power... can never willingly abandon it.

Abandon

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By gnawing through a dike, even a rat may drown a nation.

Gnawing

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There are circumstances in which despair does not imply inactivity.

Circumstances

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In all forms of government the people is the true legislator.

Form

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I have in general no very exalted opinion of the virtue of paper government.

Government

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A great empire and little minds go ill together.

American revolution

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Nothing so effectually deadens the taste of the sublime as that which is light and radiant.

Light

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The effect of liberty to individuals is that they may do what they please: we ought to see what it will please…

Congratulations

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True religion is the foundation of society. When that is once shaken by contempt, the whole fabric cannot be stable nor lasting.

Contempt

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Whenever a separation is made between liberty and justice, neither, in my opinion, is safe.

Freedom

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But the age of chivalry is gone. That of sophisters, economists, and calculators, has succeeded; and the glory of Europe is extinguished…

Age

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He that borrows the aid of an equal understanding doubles his own; he that uses that of a superior elevates his own…

Aids

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When a great man has some one object in view to be achieved in a given time, it may be absolutely necessary…

Achievement

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Laws are commanded to hold their tongues among arms; and tribunals fall to the ground with the peace they are no longer…

Able

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All that is necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing as they must if they believe they…

Believe

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There are three estates in Parliament but in the Reporters' Gallery yonder there sits a Fourth Estate more important far than they…

Estates

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There are cases in which a man would be ashamed not to have been imposed upon. There is a confidence necessary to…

Ashamed

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Men want to be reminded, who do not want to be taught; because those original ideas of rectitude to which the mind…

Compelled

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The science of constructing a commonwealth, or renovating it, or reforming it, is, like every other experimental science, not to be taught…

Causes

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There was an ancient Roman lawyer, of great fame in the history of Roman jurisprudence, whom they called Cui Bono, from his…

Accused

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What is liberty without...virtue? It is...madness, without restraint. Men are qualified for liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral…

Character

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Old religious factions are volcanoes burned out; on the lava and ashes and squalid scoriae of old eruptions grow the peaceful olive,…

Ashes

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“Through the same plan of a conformity to nature in our artificial institutions, and by calling in the aid of her unerring…

Freedom

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Facts are to the mind what food is to the body. On the due digestion of the former depend the strength and…

Body

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“Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants. Men have a right that these wants should be provided…

Civil society

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“It would be hard to point out any error more truly subversive of all the order and beauty, all the peace and…

Beauty

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In general the languages of most unpolished people have a great force and energy of expression; and this is but natural. Uncultivated…

Admire

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Society is indeed a contract. It is a partnership in all science; a partnership in all art; a partnership in every virtue,…

Art

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In this choice of inheritance we have given to our frame of polity the image of a relation in blood; binding up…

Adopting

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The power of perpetuating our property in our families is one of the most valuable and interesting circumstances belonging to it, and…

Ancestry

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Edmund Burke by topic

Men (96) Politics (63) Freedom (43) Virtue (40) Inspirational (38) Psychology (37) Character (37) Wisdom (36) Mind (36) May (36) Love (36) People (32) Nature (32) Religion (29) Government (29) Liberty (27) Law (26) Power (24) Justice (23) Evil (23) History (22) World (21) Time (21) Ought (21) Life (21)