Edmund Burke Quotes - Page 17

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Abuse Adversity Affairs Affection Age Aids Ambition

Politics and the pulpit are terms that have little agreement. No sound ought to be heard in the church but the healing voice of Christian charity. The cause of civil liberty and civil government gains as little as that of religion by this confusion of duties. Those who quit their proper character to assume what does not belong to them are, for the greater part, ignorant both of the character they leave and of the character they assume.

Edmund Burke

Christian, Character, Healing

Edmund Burke (2016). “Delphi Complete Works of Edmund Burke (Illustrated)”, p.1388, Delphi Classics

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Spain: A whale stranded upon the coast of Europe.

Edmund Burke

Europe, Whales, Spain

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Though ugliness be the opposite of beauty, it is not the opposite to proportion and fitness; for it is possible that a thing may be very ugly with any proportions, and with a perfect fitness for any use.

Edmund Burke

Opposites, Perfect, Ugly

Edmund Burke (1824). “A Philosophical Inquiry Into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful”, p.125

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A great deal of the furniture of ancient tyranny is torn to rags; the rest is entirely out of fashion.

Edmund Burke

Fashion, Rags, Furniture

Edmund Burke (1834). “The Works of the Right Hon. Edmund Burke: With a Biographical and Critical Introduction, and Portrait After Sir Joshua Reynolds”, p.126

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I do ride contend against the advantages of distrust. In the world we live in, it is but too necessary. Some of old called it the very sinews of discretion.

Edmund Burke

World, Advantage, Distrust

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To prove that the Americans ought not to be free, we are obliged to deprecate the value of freedom itself.

Edmund Burke

Freedom, Prove, Ought

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A thing may look specious in theory, and yet be ruinous in practice; a thing may look evil in theory, and yet be in practice excellent.

Edmund Burke

Practice, Evil, May

Edmund Burke (1852). “The Works and Correspondance of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke”, p.449

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Dangers by being despised grow great.

Edmund Burke

Hate, Danger, Despise

Speech on the Petition of the Unitarians, 11 May 1792, in 'The Works' vol. 5 (1812)

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Taste and elegance, though they are reckoned only among the smaller and secondary morals, yet are of no mean importance in the regulations of life. A moral taste is not of force to turn vice into virtue; but it recommends virtue with something like the blandishments of pleasure, and it infinitely abates the evils of vice.

Edmund Burke

Mean, Evil, Vices

Edmund Burke (1841). “Works”, p.484

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Water and oil, simply considered, are capable of giving some pleasure to the taste. Water, when simple, is insipid, inodorous, colorless, and smooth; it is found, when not cold, to be a great resolver of spasms, and lubricator of the fibres; this power it probably owes to its smoothness.

Edmund Burke

Water, Smooth, Colorless

"Complete Works of Edmund Burke".

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The same sun which gilds all nature, and exhilarates the whole creation, does not shine upon disappointed ambition.

Edmund Burke

Ambition, Shining, Doe

Edmund Burke (1756). “The Works of the Right Honorable Edmund Burke ...: A vindication of natural society. An essay on the sublime and beautiful. Political miscellanies”, p.233

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A speculative despair is unpardonable where it our duty to act.

Edmund Burke

Despair, Duty

Edmund Burke, Harvey C. Mansfield (1984). “Selected Letters of Edmund Burke”, p.188, University of Chicago Press

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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.

Edmund Burke

Advice, Understanding, Levels

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In the weakness of one kind of authority, and in the fluctuation of all, the officers of an army will remain for some time mutinous and full of faction, until some popular general, who understands the art of conciliating the soldiery, and who possesses the true spirit of command, shall draw the eyes of all men upon himself. Armies will obey him on his personal account. There is no other way of securing military obedience in this state of things.

Edmund Burke

Art, Military, Eye

Edmund Burke (1868). “Reflections on the Revolution in France and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event: 1790”, p.249

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True humility-the basis of the Christian system-is the low but deep and firm foundation of all virtues.

Edmund Burke

Christian, Humility, Foundation

Edmund Burke (2016). “Delphi Complete Works of Edmund Burke (Illustrated)”, p.3683, Delphi Classics

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It is the love of the people; it is their attachment to their government, from the sense of the deep stake they have in such a glorious institution, which gives you your army 168 and your navy, and infuses into both that liberal obedience, without which your army would be a base rabble, and your navy nothing but rotten timber.

Edmund Burke

Army, Attachment, Government

Speech 'On Conciliation with America' 22 March 1775

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Turbulent, discontented men of quality, in proportion as they are puffed up with personal pride and arrogance, generally despise their own order.

Edmund Burke

Pride, Men, Order

Edmund Burke (1852). “The works and correspondence of...Edmund Burke”, p.188

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Is it in destroying and pulling down that skill is displayed? The shallowest understanding, the rudest hand, is more than equal to that task.

Edmund Burke

Hands, Skills, Understanding

Edmund Burke (2016). “Delphi Complete Works of Edmund Burke (Illustrated)”, p.1511, Delphi Classics

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I decline the election. It has ever been my rule through life, to observe a proportion between my efforts and my objects. I have never been remarkable for a bold, active, and sanguine pursuit of advantages that are personal to myself.

Edmund Burke

Effort, Election, Proportion

Edmund Burke (2016). “Delphi Complete Works of Edmund Burke (Illustrated)”, p.2600, Delphi Classics

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Neither the few nor the many have a right to act merely by their will, in any matter connected with duty, trust, engagement, or obligation.

Edmund Burke

Matter, Engagement, Duty

Edmund Burke (2016). “Delphi Complete Works of Edmund Burke (Illustrated)”, p.1640, Delphi Classics

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Old religious factions are volcanoes burnt out.

Edmund Burke

Religious, Volcanoes, Factions

Speech on Petition of the Unitarians, 11 May 1792

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By looking into physical causes our minds are opened and enlarged; and in this pursuit, whether we take or whether we lose the game, the chase is certainly of service.

Edmund Burke

Games, Mind, Causes

Edmund Burke (2012). “A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful”, p.5, Courier Corporation

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Futurity is the great concern of mankind.

Edmund Burke

Mankind, Concern

Edmund Burke (1852). “The Works and Correspondance of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke”, p.188

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I own that there is a haughtiness and fierceness in human nature which will cause innumerable broils, place men in what situation you please.

Edmund Burke

Men, Humanity, Haughtiness

Edmund Burke (2016). “Delphi Complete Works of Edmund Burke (Illustrated)”, p.32, Delphi Classics

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To give freedom is still more easy. It is not necessary to guide; it only requires to let go the rein. But to form a free government; that is, to temper together these opposite elements of liberty and restraint in one work, requires much thought, deep reflection, a sagacious, powerful, and combining mind.

Edmund Burke

Letting Go, Powerful, Reflection

Edmund Burke (1912). “Reflections on the French Revolution”, p.251, CUP Archive

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Born: January 12, 1729
Died: July 9, 1797
Occupation: Statesman
Cite this Page: Citation

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