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
imagination understanding mind
It is from this absolute indifference and tranquillity of the mind, that mathematical speculations derive some of the most considerable advantages; because there is nothing to interest the imagination; because the judgment sits free and unbiased to examine the point. All proportions, every arrangement of quantity, is alike to the understanding, because the same truths result to it from all; from greater from lesser, from equality and inequality.
men numbers understanding
Facts are to the mind what food is to the body. On the due digestion of the former depend the strength and wisdom of the one, just as vigor and health depend on the other. The wisest in council, the ablest in debate, and the most agreeable companion in the commerce of human life, is that man who has assimilated to his understanding the greatest number of facts.
lying understanding world
There is nothing in the world really beneficial that does not lie within the reach of an informed understanding and a well-protected pursuit.
understanding use aids
He that borrows the aid of an equal understanding doubles his own; he that uses that of a superior elevates his own to the stature of that he contemplates.
hands skills understanding
Is it in destroying and pulling down that skill is displayed? The shallowest understanding, the rudest hand, is more than equal to that task.
advice understanding levels
He who calls in the aid of an equal understanding doubles his own; and he who profits by a superior understanding raises his powers to a level with the height of the superior standing he unites with.
understanding planning observation
I have never yet seen any plan which has not been mended by the observations of those who were much inferior in understanding to the person who took the lead in the business.
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
change means state
A state without some means of change is without the means of its conservation
bullying freedom work
The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse.
government unjust oppressive-governments
Nothing turns out to be so oppressive and unjust as a feeble government.