--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Abstract liberty, like other mere…" description: "\"Abstract liberty, like other mere abstractions, is not to be found.\" — Edmund Burke" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ef/edmund-burke-400_abstract_abstract-liberty-like-other-mere-abstrac_2376996.jpg" --- # Abstract liberty, like other mere abstractions, is not to… ![“Abstract liberty, like other mere abstractions, is not to be found.” quote by Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ef/edmund-burke-400_abstract_abstract-liberty-like-other-mere-abstrac_2376996.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ef/edmund-burke-400_abstract_abstract-liberty-like-other-mere-abstrac_2376996.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ef/edmund-burke-400_abstract_abstract-liberty-like-other-mere-abstrac_2376996.jpg) > “Abstract liberty, like other mere abstractions, is not to be found.” [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Abstract concepts such as liberty must be realized through concrete institutions and actions, not merely thought about. **In simple terms:** Liberty needs real structures, not just ideas. Key Takeaway Build tangible freedoms. Themes politics philosophy freedom Mood reflective critical Type philosophical political When to use this quote - policy making - activism - education - community organizing Key Concepts social contract institutionalism Questions to Reflect On - How do you turn abstract ideals into concrete policies? - What institutions best protect liberty? A Different Perspective Liberty can be co-opted by those in power, limiting its impact. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Abstract](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abstract/) [Abstraction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abstraction/) [Abstractions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abstractions/) [Freedom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/freedom/) [Inspirational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/) [Liberty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/liberty/) ## Related quotes > [In any society, order is the first need of all. Liberty and justice may be established only after order is tolerably secure. But the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/russell-kirk/in-any-society-order-is-the-first-need-of-all-liberty-and-justice-may/) [Russell Kirk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/russell-kirk/) > [When individuals and nations have once got in their heads the abstract concept of full-blown liberty, there is nothing like it in its uncontrollable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/when-individuals-and-nations-have-once-got-in-their-heads-the/) [Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/) > [In 'Self Comes to Mind' I pay a lot of attention to simple creatures without brains or minds, because those 'cartooned abstractions of who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antonio-damasio/in-self-comes-to-mind-i-pay-a-lot-of-attention-to-simple-creatures/) [Antonio Damasio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antonio-damasio/) > [Even at its most perceptive, sociology deals in abstractions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-russo/even-at-its-most-perceptive-sociology-deals-in-abstractions/) [Richard Russo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-russo/) > [I think we are living a life without specificity, and then our lives become abstractions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-tempest-williams/i-think-we-are-living-a-life-without-specificity-and-then-our-lives/) [Terry Tempest Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-tempest-williams/) > [I don't see those paintings as abstractions, especially because they are emblems of the inkblot. They aren't smashed together; they are constructed shape-by-shape, layer-by-layer,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kerry-james-marshall/i-don-t-see-those-paintings-as-abstractions-especially-because-they/) [Kerry James Marshall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kerry-james-marshall/) > [For the Warrior of the Light, there are no abstractions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/for-the-warrior-of-the-light-there-are-no-abstractions/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) > [To make someone an icon is to make him an abstraction, and abstractions are incapable of vital communication with living people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/to-make-someone-an-icon-is-to-make-him-an-abstraction-and/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) > [Policymakers think that if they get the abstractions right, that will drive behavior in the desired direction. But the world happens in real time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sendhil-mullainathan/policymakers-think-that-if-they-get-the-abstractions-right-that-will/) [Sendhil Mullainathan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sendhil-mullainathan/) > [At the same time, new concepts and abstractions flow into the picture, taking up the task of describing the universe without reference to such…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/at-the-same-time-new-concepts-and-abstractions-flow-into-the-picture/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [It is easier to compare concrete things in a fictional story with concrete things in real life than it is to compare abstractions with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-kreeft/it-is-easier-to-compare-concrete-things-in-a-fictional-story-with/) [Peter Kreeft](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-kreeft/) > [You can deny, if you like, nearly all abstractions: justice, beauty, truth, goodness, mind, God. You can deny seriousness, but not play.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johan-huizinga/you-can-deny-if-you-like-nearly-all-abstractions-justice-beauty-truth/) [Johan Huizinga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johan-huizinga/) > [Abstractions about right and wrong, whether they are as old as Thou Shalt Not Kill or as modern as Do Your Own Thing, often…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/abstractions-about-right-and-wrong-whether-they-are-as-old-as-thou/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [When novels deal in abstractions, they generally go off the rails.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philipp-meyer/when-novels-deal-in-abstractions-they-generally-go-off-the-rails/) [Philipp Meyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philipp-meyer/) > [My father painted, well into his 80s, what he called hard edge abstractions. It's really cool.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-black/my-father-painted-well-into-his-80s-what-he-called-hard-edge/) [Lewis Black](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-black/) ## 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/) [Explore all 595 Edmund Burke quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) ## More Abstract quotes > [Love is like that, fragile and light. No wonder it rests upon our hearts in intangible moments, bids us follow fleeting thoughts and ideas…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/love-is-like-that-fragile-and-light-no-wonder-it-rests-upon-our/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Wisdom is the abstract of the past, but beauty is the promise of the future.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/wisdom-is-the-abstract-of-the-past-but-beauty-is-the-promise-of-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Where human eyes have never seen, where human beings have never been, I build a world of abstract dreams, and I wait for you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sun-ra/where-human-eyes-have-never-seen-where-human-beings-have-never-been-i/) [Sun Ra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sun-ra/) > [A little too abstract, a little too wise, It is time for us to kiss the earth again, It is time to let the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robinson-jeffers/a-little-too-abstract-a-little-too-wise-it-is-time-for-us-to-kiss-the/) [Robinson Jeffers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robinson-jeffers/) > [“Happy is very abstract, you can't touch it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julius-veal/happy-is-very-abstract-you-can-t-touch-it/) [Julius Veal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julius-veal/) > [Abstract Expressionism was invented by New York drunks.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joni-mitchell/abstract-expressionism-was-invented-by-new-york-drunks/) [Joni Mitchell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joni-mitchell/) > [The more horrible this world (as today, for instance), the more abstract our art, whereas a happy world brings forth an art of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-klee/the-more-horrible-this-world-as-today-for-instance-the-more-abstract/) [Paul Klee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-klee/) > [Describing comic sensibility is near impossible. It's sort of an abstract silliness, that sometimes the joke isn't the star.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-carvey/describing-comic-sensibility-is-near-impossible-it-s-sort-of-an/) [Dana Carvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-carvey/) > [For people of color - especially African Americans - the idea that racist cops might frame members of their community is no abstract notion,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-wise/for-people-of-color-especially-african-americans-the-idea-that-racist/) [Tim Wise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-wise/) > [The word of the Lord never comes to us as an opinion, no attempt is made to support it by argument, it comes as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-w-ivins/the-word-of-the-lord-never-comes-to-us-as-an-opinion-no-attempt-is/) Anthony W. Ivins > [A mobile is an abstract sculpture made chiefly out of sheet metal, steel rods, wire and wood. Some or all of these elements move,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-calder/a-mobile-is-an-abstract-sculpture-made-chiefly-out-of-sheet-metal/) [Alexander Calder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-calder/) > [I'm this superphilosophical kind of person. Stuck in a prison of abstract ideas and overpowering emotions, I have this personality that makes it really…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natsuo-kirino/i-m-this-superphilosophical-kind-of-person-stuck-in-a-prison-of/) [Natsuo Kirino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natsuo-kirino/) > [Future lawyers should be more aware that law is not a system of abstract logic, but the web of arrangements, rooted in history but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/felix-frankfurter/future-lawyers-should-be-more-aware-that-law-is-not-a-system-of/) [Felix Frankfurter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/felix-frankfurter/) > [The trouble is that when you read criticisms about the other films that I've made you get the impression that they're all about themes,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-haneke/the-trouble-is-that-when-you-read-criticisms-about-the-other-films/) [Michael Haneke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-haneke/) > [Painting is... a richer language than words... Painting operates through signs which are not abstract and incorporeal like words. The signs of painting are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-dubuffet/painting-is-a-richer-language-than-words-painting-operates-through/) [Jean Dubuffet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-dubuffet/) [Browse all 1,403 Abstract quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abstract/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Abstract liberty, like other mere abstractions, is not to be found.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Edmund Burke" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/abstract-liberty-like-other-mere-abstractions-is-not-to-be-found/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Abstract" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/abstract-liberty-like-other-mere-abstractions-is-not-to-be-found/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ef/edmund-burke-400_abstract_abstract-liberty-like-other-mere-abstrac_2376996.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ef/edmund-burke-400_abstract_abstract-liberty-like-other-mere-abstrac_2376996.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ef/edmund-burke-400_abstract_abstract-liberty-like-other-mere-abstrac_2376996.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Abstract liberty, like other mere abstractions, is not to be found.” — Edmund Burke", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Edmund Burke", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Abstract liberty, like other mere abstractions,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/abstract-liberty-like-other-mere-abstractions-is-not-to-be-found/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/abstract-liberty-like-other-mere-abstractions-is-not-to-be-found/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```