--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Burke was not a sentimentalist…" description: "\"“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 capricious nature.”44 ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/469/yuval-levin-33921_character_burke-was-not-a-sentimentalist-however-4_1590351.jpg" --- # Burke was not a sentimentalist, however.43 “Leave a man to… ![“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 capricious nature.”44 Rather, he argued that while politics does answer to reason, human reason does not interact directly with the world but is always mediated by our…” quote by Yuval Levin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/469/yuval-levin-33921_character_burke-was-not-a-sentimentalist-however-4_1590351.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/469/yuval-levin-33921_character_burke-was-not-a-sentimentalist-however-4_1590351.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/469/yuval-levin-33921_character_burke-was-not-a-sentimentalist-however-4_1590351.jpg) > ““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 capricious nature.”44 Rather, he argued that while politics does answer to reason, human reason does not interact directly with the world but is always mediated by our imagination, which helps us to give order and shape to the data we derive from our senses. One way or another, reason applies through the sentiments and passions, so it is crucial to tend to what he calls our “moral imagination” because left untended, it will direct our reason toward violence and disorder.45 The dark side of our sentiments is mitigated not by pure reason, but by more beneficent sentiments. We cannot be simply argued out of our vices, but we can be deterred from indulging them by the trust and love that develops among neighbors, by deeply established habits of order and peace, and by pride in our community or country. And part of the statesman’s difficult charge is keeping this balance together, acting rationally on this understanding of the limits of reason. “The temper of the people amongst whom he presides ought therefore to be the first study of a statesman,” Burke asserts.46 It is for Burke another reason why politics can never be reduced to a simple application of logical axioms. As Burke’s contemporary William Hazlitt put it: “\[Burke\] knew that man had affections and passions and powers of imagination, as well as hunger and thirst and the sense of heat and cold. . . . He knew that the rules that form the basis of private morality are not founded in reason, that is, in the abstract properties of those things which are the subjects of them, but in the nature of man, and his capacity of being affected by certain things from habit, from imagination, and sentiment, as well as from reason.”” [Yuval Levin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yuval-levin/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Burke argues that reason is filtered through imagination and sentiment; moral imagination guides reason away from violence toward social harmony. **In simple terms:** Reason works through feelings and imagination, not alone. Key Takeaway Cultivate moral imagination to balance reason and passion. Themes politics reason imagination morality community Mood reflective serious Type philosophical political When to use this quote - government policy - community building - conflict resolution - public discourse - education Key Concepts moral imagination social order political theory Questions to Reflect On - How can societies nurture moral imagination? - What role do communal habits play in restraining passions? A Different Perspective Pure reason alone cannot curb vices; social bonds and habits are needed. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Character](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/character/) [Dark side](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dark-side/) [Human reason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-reason/) [Nature of man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature-of-man/) [Wild beast](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wild-beast/) ## Related quotes > [Every man without passions has within him no principle of action, nor motive to act.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-adrien-helvetius/every-man-without-passions-has-within-him-no-principle-of-action-nor/) [Claude Adrien Helvetius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-adrien-helvetius/) > [“Then this must be my answer: We know that the attributes of God are infinite and it has always seemed strange to me that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-somerset-maugham/then-this-must-be-my-answer-we-know-that-the-attributes-of-god-are/) [W. 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One way or another, reason applies through the sentiments and passions, so it is crucial to tend to what he calls our “moral imagination” because left untended, it will direct our reason toward violence and disorder.45 The dark side of our sentiments is mitigated not by pure reason, but by more beneficent sentiments. We cannot be simply argued out of our vices, but we can be deterred from indulging them by the trust and love that develops among neighbors, by deeply established habits of order and peace, and by pride in our community or country. And part of the statesman’s difficult charge is keeping this balance together, acting rationally on this understanding of the limits of reason. “The temper of the people amongst whom he presides ought therefore to be the first study of a statesman,” Burke asserts.46 It is for Burke another reason why politics can never be reduced to a simple application of logical axioms. As Burke’s contemporary William Hazlitt put it: “[Burke] knew that man had affections and passions and powers of imagination, as well as hunger and thirst and the sense of heat and cold. . . . He knew that the rules that form the basis of private morality are not founded in reason, that is, in the abstract properties of those things which are the subjects of them, but in the nature of man, and his capacity of being affected by certain things from habit, from imagination, and sentiment, as well as from reason.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Yuval Levin" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yuval-levin/burke-was-not-a-sentimentalist-however-43-leave-a-man-to-his-passions/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Character" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yuval-levin/burke-was-not-a-sentimentalist-however-43-leave-a-man-to-his-passions/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/469/yuval-levin-33921_character_burke-was-not-a-sentimentalist-however-4_1590351.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/469/yuval-levin-33921_character_burke-was-not-a-sentimentalist-however-4_1590351.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/469/yuval-levin-33921_character_burke-was-not-a-sentimentalist-however-4_1590351.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Burke was not a sentimentalist, however.43 “Leave a man to his passions,” he wrote, “and you leave a wild…” — Yuval Levin", "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": "Yuval Levin", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yuval-levin/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Burke was not a sentimentalist, however.43...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yuval-levin/burke-was-not-a-sentimentalist-however-43-leave-a-man-to-his-passions/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yuval-levin/burke-was-not-a-sentimentalist-however-43-leave-a-man-to-his-passions/#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 } } ] } ```