EDMUND BURKE QUOTES
British statesman, economist, & philosopher (1729-1797)
Ambition can creep as well as soar.
EDMUND BURKE
Letters on a Regicide Peace
Custom reconciles us to everything.
EDMUND BURKE
On the Sublime and Beautiful
The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse.
EDMUND BURKE
speech on the Middlesex Elections, 1771
Falsehood has a perennial spring.
EDMUND BURKE
speech on American Taxation, 1774
Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny.
EDMUND BURKE
speech at Bristol prior to the election of 1780
The concessions of the weak are the concessions of fear.
EDMUND BURKE
speech on conciliation with America, 1775
When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.
EDMUND BURKE
Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontentment
Young man, there is America -- which at this day serves for little more than to amuse you with stories of savage men, and uncouth manners; yet shall, before you taste of death, show itself equal to the whole of that commerce which now attracts the envy of the world.
EDMUND BURKE
speech on conciliation with America, 1775
A state without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation.
EDMUND BURKE
Reflections on the Revolution in France
Freedom and not servitude is the cure of anarchy; as religion, and not atheism, is the true remedy of superstition.
EDMUND BURKE
speech on conciliation with America, 1775
Make the Revolution a parent of settlement, and not a nursery of future revolutions.
EDMUND BURKE
Reflections on the Revolution in France
You can never plan the future by the past.
EDMUND BURKE
letter to a Member of the National Assembly
No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear.
EDMUND BURKE
On the Sublime and Beautiful
There 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
speech on Impeachment of Warren Hastings, May 28, 1794
The march of the human mind is slow.
EDMUND BURKE
speech on conciliation with America, 1775
Whilst shame keeps its watch, virtue is not wholly extinguished in the heart; nor will moderation be utterly exiled from the minds of tyrants.
EDMUND BURKE
Reflections on the Revolution in France
People never give up their liberties but under some delusion.
EDMUND BURKE
speech at County Meeting of Bucks, 1784
Power gradually extirpates for the mind every humane and gentle virtue.
EDMUND BURKE
A Vindication of Natural Society
The use of force alone is but temporary. It may subdue for the 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
speech on conciliation with America, 1775
Superstition is the religion of feeble minds.
EDMUND BURKE
Reflections on the Revolution in France