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Political theory8 quotes
All government, indeed every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue and every prudent act, is founded on compromise and barter. — Edmund Burke · 1775Whatever 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. — Edmund Burke · 1790To be attached to the subdivision, to love the little platoon we belong to in society, is the first principle (the germ as it were) of public affection. It is the first link in the series by which we proceed towards a love to our country and to mankind. — Edmund Burke · 1790Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgement; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion. — Edmund Burke · 1774The use of force alone is but temporary. It may subdue for a moment; but it does not remove the necessity of subduing again: and a nation is not governed which is perpetually to be conquered. — Edmund Burke · 1775Liberty, too, must be limited in order to be possessed. — Edmund Burke · 1777All 8 quotes →Politics8 quotes
A state without some means of change is without the means of its own conservation. — Edmund Burke · 1790Parties must ever exist in a free country. — Edmund Burke · 1775Whatever 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. — Edmund Burke · 1790Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgement; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion. — Edmund Burke · 1774Magnanimity in politics is not seldom the truest wisdom; and a great empire and little minds go ill together. — Edmund Burke · 1775The use of force alone is but temporary. It may subdue for a moment; but it does not remove the necessity of subduing again: and a nation is not governed which is perpetually to be conquered. — Edmund Burke · 1775All 8 quotes →Freedom5 quotes
The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion. — Edmund Burke · 1784Among a people generally corrupt liberty cannot long exist. — Edmund Burke · 1777Whatever 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. — Edmund Burke · 1790Liberty, too, must be limited in order to be possessed. — Edmund Burke · 1777The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedients, and by parts. — Edmund Burke · 1777Law4 quotes
Laws, like houses, lean on one another. — Edmund Burke · 1760There is but one law for all, namely, that law which governs all law, the law of our Creator, the law of humanity, justice, equity, — the Law of Nature and of Nations. — Edmund Burke · 1794The law touches us but here and there, and now and then. Manners are what vex or soothe, corrupt or purify, exalt or debase, barbarize or refine us, by a constant, steady, uniform, insensible operation, like that of the air we breathe in. — Edmund Burke · 1796Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny. — Edmund Burke · 1780Custom and convention3 quotes
Custom reconciles us to everything. — Edmund Burke · 1757The law touches us but here and there, and now and then. Manners are what vex or soothe, corrupt or purify, exalt or debase, barbarize or refine us, by a constant, steady, uniform, insensible operation, like that of the air we breathe in. — Edmund Burke · 1796Manners are of more importance than laws... Manners are what vex or soothe, corrupt or purify, exalt or debase, barbarize or refine us, by a constant, steady, uniform, insensible operation, like that of the air we breathe in. They give their whole form and color to our lives. — Edmund Burke · 1796Democracy3 quotes
Parties must ever exist in a free country. — Edmund Burke · 1775Among a people generally corrupt liberty cannot long exist. — Edmund Burke · 1777Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgement; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion. — Edmund Burke · 1774French Revolution3 quotes
A state without some means of change is without the means of its own conservation. — Edmund Burke · 1790Make the Revolution a parent of settlement, and not a nursery of future revolutions. — Edmund Burke · 1790It is said, that twenty-four millions ought to prevail over two hundred thousand. True, if the constitution of a kingdom be a problem of arithmetic. — Edmund Burke · 1790Morality3 quotes
By hating vices too much, they come to love men too little. — Edmund Burke · 1790Among a people generally corrupt liberty cannot long exist. — Edmund Burke · 1777There is but one law for all, namely, that law which governs all law, the law of our Creator, the law of humanity, justice, equity, — the Law of Nature and of Nations. — Edmund Burke · 1794Human nature2 quotes
We must soften into a credulity below the milkiness of infancy, to think all men virtuous. We must be tainted with a malignity truly diabolical, to believe all the world to be equally wicked and corrupt. — Edmund Burke · 1770To complain of the age we live in, to murmur at the present possessors of power, to lament the past, to conceive extravagant hopes of the future, are the common dispositions of the greatest part of mankind. — Edmund Burke · 1770Political agitation2 quotes
Because half a dozen grasshoppers under a fern make the field ring with their importunate chink, whilst thousands of great cattle, reposed beneath the shadow of the British oak, chew the cud and are silent, pray do not imagine, that those who make the noise are the only inhabitants of the field. — Edmund Burke · 1790We set ourselves to bite the hand that feeds us. — Edmund Burke · 1770Revolution2 quotes
A state without some means of change is without the means of its own conservation. — Edmund Burke · 1790Make the Revolution a parent of settlement, and not a nursery of future revolutions. — Edmund Burke · 1790Abuse of power1 quote
The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse. — Edmund Burke · 1771Age of chivalry1 quote
The age of chivalry is gone. That of sophisters, economists, and calculators, has succeeded; and the glory of Europe is extinguished for ever. — Edmund Burke · 1790Alienation1 quote
The age of chivalry is gone. That of sophisters, economists, and calculators, has succeeded; and the glory of Europe is extinguished for ever. — Edmund Burke · 1790Ambition1 quote
Ambition can creep as well as soar. — Edmund Burke · 1797Benefits of adversity1 quote
He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves, and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper. — Edmund Burke · 1790Chivalry is dead1 quote
The age of chivalry is gone. That of sophisters, economists, and calculators, has succeeded; and the glory of Europe is extinguished for ever. — Edmund Burke · 1790Citizen and state1 quote
The people are the masters. — Edmund Burke · 1780Civil unrest1 quote
The use of force alone is but temporary. It may subdue for a moment; but it does not remove the necessity of subduing again: and a nation is not governed which is perpetually to be conquered. — Edmund Burke · 1775Compromise1 quote
Every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue and every prudent act, is founded on compromise and barter. — Edmund Burke · 1775Decline of democracy1 quote
Among a people generally corrupt liberty cannot long exist. — Edmund Burke · 1777Demagogues1 quote
It is a general popular error to imagine the loudest complainers for the public, to be the most anxious for its welfare. — Edmund Burke · 1769Disenchanted world1 quote
The age of chivalry is gone. That of sophisters, economists, and calculators, has succeeded; and the glory of Europe is extinguished for ever. — Edmund Burke · 1790Effects of fear1 quote
No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear. — Edmund Burke · 1757Ephemeral nature of life1 quote
Individuals pass like shadows; but the commonwealth is fixed and stable. — Edmund Burke · 1780Europe1 quote
The age of chivalry is gone. That of sophisters, economists, and calculators, has succeeded; and the glory of Europe is extinguished for ever. — Edmund Burke · 1790Fear1 quote
No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear. — Edmund Burke · 1757Government1 quote
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. — Edmund Burke · 1790History1 quote
People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors. — Edmund Burke · 1790Human rights1 quote
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. — Edmund Burke · 1790