Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke
Edmund Burkewas an Irish statesman born in Dublin, as well as an author, orator, political theorist, and philosopher who, after moving to London, served as a member of parliamentfor many years in the House of Commons with the Whig Party...
NationalityIrish
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth12 January 1729
CountryIreland
men evil good-man
Evil prevails when good men fail to act.
men evil good-man
Evil succeeds when good men do nothing
views excellence mankind
For there is in mankind an unfortunate propensity to make themselves, their views and their works, the measure of excellence in every thing whatsoever
church one-day mankind
Surely the church is a place where one day's truce ought to be allowed to the dissensions and animosities of mankind.
wise encouragement good-man
The esteem of wise and good men is the greatest of all temporal encouragements to virtue; and it is a mark of an abandoned spirit to have no regard to it.
mankind concern
Futurity is the great concern of mankind.
men evil good-man
All that needs to be done for evil to prevail is good men doing nothing.
evil good man necessary
It is necessary only for the good man to do nothing for evil to triumph.
god man whatever
Whatever disunites man from God disunites man from man
air breathe corrupt exalt importance manners refine
Manners 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.
case sort taught treason
I know that many have been taught to think that moderation, in a case like this, is a sort of treason
becomes cannot ends indeed obtained society
Society is indeed a contract. It is a partnership in all science; a partnership in all art; a partnership in every virtue, and in all perfection. As the ends of such a partnership cannot be obtained in many generations, it becomes a partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born.
chains exact liberty moral proportion qualified
What is liberty without...virtue? It is...madness, without restraint.Men are qualified for liberty in exact proportion to their dispositionto put moral chains upon their own appetites.
anxious confident despised ruined security
Better to be despised for too anxious apprehensions, than be ruined by too confident a security