Edmund Burke Quotes

Example is the school of mankind, and they will learn at no other.
EDMUND BURKE

Kind Learning Man
Superstition is the religion of feeble minds.
EDMUND BURKE

Mindset Religion Superstition
All that needs to be done for evil to prevail is good men doing nothing.
EDMUND BURKE

Evil Goodness Man Ourselves
But the age of chivalry is gone. That of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded; and the glory of Europe is extinguished forever.
EDMUND BURKE

Age Economics Forever Success
The blood of man should never be shed but to redeem the blood of man. It is well shed for our family, for our friends, for our God, for our country, for our kind. The rest is vanity; the rest is crime.
EDMUND BURKE

Blood Country Crime Family Friendship Kind Man Rest
In a democracy, the majority of the citizens is capable of exercising the most cruel oppressions upon the minority.
EDMUND BURKE

Citizenship Democracy Exercise Majority Minority Oppression
Rage and frenzy will pull down more in half an hour than prudence, deliberation, and foresight can build up in a hundred years.
EDMUND BURKE

Build Prudence Rage Time
Those who attempt to level never equalize.
EDMUND BURKE

Equality Level
You can never plan the future by the past.
EDMUND BURKE

Future Past Planning Yourself
People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors.
EDMUND BURKE

Ancestor Past People
Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.
EDMUND BURKE

Destiny History Repeat
Good company, lively conversation, and the endearments of friendship fill the mind with great pleasure.
EDMUND BURKE

Company Conversation Friendship Goodness Greatness Happiness Live
Flattery corrupts both the receiver and the giver.
EDMUND BURKE

Flatter Generosity Receive
Silence is golden but when it threatens your freedom it’s yellow.
EDMUND BURKE

Freedom Gold Silence Yourself
This sort of people are so taken up with their theories about the rights of man that they have totally forgotten his nature.
EDMUND BURKE

Forget Man Nature People Right Theory
They defend their errors as if they were defending their inheritance.
EDMUND BURKE

Defend Errors Inheritance
The great must submit to the dominion of prudence and of virtue, or none will long submit to the dominion of the great.
EDMUND BURKE

Domination Greatness
Hypocrisy can afford to be magnificent in its promises, for never intending to go beyond promise, it costs nothing.
EDMUND BURKE

Afford Beyond Cost Hypocrisy Promise
There is nothing that God has judged good for us that He has not given us the means to accomplish, both in the natural and the moral world.
EDMUND BURKE

Accomplishment God Judgement Moral World
To 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

Age Future Hope Kind Live Man Present
If we command our wealth, we shall be rich and free; if our wealth commands us, we are poor indeed.
EDMUND BURKE

Command Freedom Poor Rich Wealth
Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion.
EDMUND BURKE

Betrayal Himself Industry Opinion Representation Sacrifice Service
All the forces of darkness need to succeed … is for the people to do nothing.
EDMUND BURKE

Darkness Force Need People Success
History is a pact between the dead, the living, and the yet unborn.
EDMUND BURKE

Born Death History Live Value
There is no safety for honest men, but by believing all possible evil of evil men, and by acting with promptitude, decision, and steadiness on that belief.
EDMUND BURKE

Act Attitude Belief Believe Decision Honesty Man Possible Safety
It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.
EDMUND BURKE

Constitution Forever Freedom Mindset Passion
When you fear something, learn as much about it as you can. Knowledge conquers fear.
EDMUND BURKE

Fear Knowledge Learning Yourself

Other Famous Personalities