70 Insightful Edmund Burke Quotes From The Irish Statesmen and Philosopher

Sir Edmund Burke, the Irish Statesman is popularly known to the world for his political activism.

Edmund Burke is well known as an eminent philosopher, political theorist, author, and orator. The book 'Reflection On The French Revolution' is his most famous work.

In this book he discussed his reasons behind opposing the French Revolution. According to Burke, the French Revolution would have a disastrous ending due to the absence of proper foundation and ignorance of the government towards its people.

He was a Member of Parliament and served for the House of Commons from 1766 to 1794 under the Whig Party.

He raised his voice against the British practice of slavery at that time. This article is a compilation of quotes about Edmund Burke that clearly shows how he tried to influence his audience to always stand by what's correct.

If you like this article on Edmund Burke quotes, then check out Michel Foucault quotes and Epictetus quotes.

‍

Famous Edmund Burke Quotes

Edmund Burke through his book 'Reflections On The Revolution In France' widely shares his views on politics and its effect on society. Here are some famous Edmund Burke 'Reflections On The Revolution In France' quotes that you will like.

1. "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."

- Edmund Burke.

2. "Politics and the pulpit are terms that have little agreement."  

- Edmund Burke.

3. "The true lawgiver ought to have an heart full of sensibility. He ought to love and respect his kind, and to fear himself."

- Edmund Burke.

4. "No government could stand a moment, if it could be blown down with anything so loose and indefinite as an opinion of 'misconduct'."

- Edmund Burke.

5. "Wise men will apply their remedies to vices, not to names; to the causes of evil which are permanent, not to occasional organs by which they act, and the transitory modes in which they appear."

- Edmund Burke.

6. "I must be tolerably sure, before I venture publicly to congratulate men upon a blessing, that they have really received one."

- Edmund Burke.

7. "Your constitution has too much of jealousy to have much sense in it."

- Edmund Burke.

8. "Better to be despised for too anxious apprehensions, than ruined by too confident a security."

- Edmund Burke.

9. "Laws are commanded to hold their tongues amongst arms; and tribunals fall to the ground with the peace they are no longer able to uphold."

- Edmund Burke.

10. "The characteristic passion of my life was my love of order."

- Edmund Burke.

11. "Nothing turns out to be so oppressive and unjust as a feeble government."

- Edmund Burke.

12. "The very idea of the fabrication of a new government is enough to fill us with disgust and horror."

- Edmund Burke.

13. "Rage and frenzy will pull down more in half an hour, than prudence, deliberation, and foresight can build up in an hundred years."

- Edmund Burke.

14. "It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters."

- Edmund Burke.

15. "People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors."

- Edmund Burke.

16. "Nobility is a graceful ornament to the civil order. It is the Corinthian capital of polished society."

- Edmund Burke.

17. "You will smile here at the consistency of those democratists who, when they are not on their guard, treat the humbler part of the community with the greatest contempt, whilst, at the same time they pretend to make them the depositories of all power."

- Edmund Burke.

18. "To make us love our country, our country ought to be lovely."

- Edmund Burke.

Best Quotes By Edmund Burke

Here some of the best Edmund Burke quotes are shared that include motivational, inspirational, knowledgeable, political, historical quotes.

19. "He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves, and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper."

- Edmund Burke.

20. “No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear.”

- Edmund Burke.

21. "Man is by his constitution a religious animal, atheism is against, not only our reason but our instincts."

- Edmund Burke.

22. "Never despair, but if you do, work on in despair."

- Edmund Burke.

23. "Men have no right to what is not reasonable, and to what is not for their benefit."

- Edmund Burke.

24. "All government, indeed every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue, and every prudent act, is founded on compromise and barter."

- Edmund Burke.

25. "There is no qualification for government but virtue and wisdom, actual or presumptive."

- Edmund Burke.

26. "Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little."

- Edmund Burke.

27. "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.

28. "Religion is essentially the art and the theory of the remaking of man. Man is not a finished creation."

- Edmund Burke.

29. "But what is liberty without wisdom, and without virtue? It is the greatest of all possible evils; for it is folly, vice, and madness, without tuition or restraint."

- Edmund Burke.

30. "The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse."

- Edmund Burke.

31. "All who have ever written on government are unanimous, among a people generally corrupt, liberty cannot long exist."

- Edmund Burke.

32. "It is not what a lawyer tells me I may do; but what humanity, reason, and justice tell me I ought to do. "

- Edmund Burke.

Sir Edmund Burke Quotes

Below is a list of quotes from one of the greatest philosophical intellect Edmund Burke. Check these Edmund Burke quotes out that will enhance your knowledge.

33. "The hottest fires in hell are reserved for those who remain neutral in times of moral crisis."

- Edmund Burke.

34. "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.

35. "A state without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation."

- Edmund Burke.

36. "In this partnership all men have equal rights; but not to equal things."

- Edmund Burke.

37. "The great inlet by which a colour for oppression has entered into the world is by one man's pretending to determine concerning the happiness of another."

- Edmund Burke.

38. "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.

39. "When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle."

- Edmund Burke.

40. "The earth, the kind and equal mother of all ought not to be monopolised to foster the pride and luxury of any men."

- Edmund Burke.

41. "We must all obey the great law of change. It is the most powerful law of nature."

- Edmund Burke.

42. "Flattery corrupts both the receiver and the giver, and adulation is not of more service to the people than to kings."

- Edmund Burke.

43. "The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedience, and by parts."

- Edmund Burke.

44. "The first and simplest emotion which we discover in the human mind, is curiosity."

- Edmund Burke.

45. "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

- Edmund Burke.

46. "Reading without reflecting is like eating without digesting."

- Edmund Burke.

47. "People crushed by law, have no hopes but from power. If laws are their enemies, they will be enemies to laws; and those who have much hope and nothing to lose, will always be dangerous."

- Edmund Burke.

48. "But liberty, when men act in bodies, is power."

- Edmund Burke.

49. "I have not yet lost a feeling of wonder, and of delight, that the delicate motion should reside in all the things around us, revealing itself only to him who looks for it."

- Edmund Burke.

50. "Kings will be tyrants by policy when subjects are rebels from principle."

- Edmund Burke.

51. "Circumstances give in reality to every political principle its distinguishing color and discriminating effect."

- Edmund Burke.

52. "Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it."

- Edmund Burke.

53. "What ever disunites man from God, also disunites man from man."

- Edmund Burke.

Inspirational Edmund Burke Quotes

Some inspiring quotes from Edmund Burke are listed below. They include Edmund Burke history quote, political quote, powerful quote, quote about people etc.

54. "Justice is itself the great standing policy of civil society; and any eminent departure from it, under any circumstances, lies under the suspicion of being no policy at all."

- Edmund Burke.

55. "All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent."

- Edmund Burke.

56. "If we command our wealth, we shall be rich and free; if our wealth commands us, we are poor indeed."

- Edmund Burke.

57. "Religion is the basis of civil society, and the source of all good and of all comfort."

- Edmund Burke.

58. "It is a general popular error to suppose the loudest complainers for the public to be the most anxious for its welfare."

- Edmund Burke.

59. "Our patience will achieve more than our force."

- Edmund Burke.

60. "Whenever a separation is made between liberty and justice, neither, in my opinion, is safe."

- Edmund Burke.

61. "A revolution will be the very last resource of the thinking and the good."

- Edmund Burke.

62. "People must be taken as they are, and we should never try make them or ourselves better by quarreling with them."

- Edmund Burke.

63. "Criminal means once tolerated are soon preferred."

- Edmund Burke.

64. "When you fear something, learn as much about it as you can. Knowledge conquers fear."

- Edmund Burke.

65. "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.

66. "Good order is the foundation of all good things."

- Edmund Burke.

67. "There is a boundary to men's passions when they act from feelings; but none when they are under the influence of imagination."

- Edmund Burke.

68. "Those who attempt to level, never equalize."

- Edmund Burke.

69. "A spirit of innovation is generally the result of a selfish temper and confined views."

- Edmund Burke.

70. "The circumstances are what render every civil and political scheme beneficial or noxious to mankind."

- Edmund Burke.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Edmund Burke quotes then why not look at Kant quotes or 'Communist Manifesto' quotes.

‍Main image credit: Boris15 / Shutterstock.com