Quotes by Edmund Burke

About Edmund Burke:

Edmund Burke was an Anglo-Irish statesman born in Dublin, as well as an author, orator, political theorist, and philosopher, who, after moving to England, served for many years in the House of Commons of Great Britain as a member of the Whig party.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Mere parsimony is not economy. Expense, and great expense, may be an essential part in true economy.

Edmund Burke

He had no failings which were not owing to a noble cause; to an ardent, generous, perhaps an immoderate passion for fame; a passion which is the instinct of all great souls.

Edmund Burke

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

Edmund Burke

One that confounds good and evil is an enemy to good.

Edmund Burke

If the people are happy, united, wealthy, and powerful, we presume the rest. We conclude that to be good from whence good is derived.

Edmund Burke

Toleration is good for all, or it is good for none.

Edmund Burke

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

Edmund Burke

Passion for fame: A passion which is the instinct of all great souls.

Edmund Burke

You can never plan the future by the past.

Edmund Burke

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

Edmund Burke

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

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

Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny.

Edmund Burke

Laws, like houses, lean on one another.

Edmund Burke

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

Edmund Burke

To tax and to please, no more than to love and to be wise, is not given to men.

Edmund Burke

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

Edmund Burke

When the leaders choose to make themselves bidders at an auction of popularity, their talents, in the construction of the state, will be of no service. They will become flatterers instead of legislators; the instruments, not the guides, of the people...

Edmund Burke

Flattery corrupts both the receiver and the giver.

Edmund Burke

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

Edmund Burke

Slavery is a weed that grows on every soil.

Edmund Burke

Author Bio

  • NameEdmund Burke
  • DescriptionAnglo-Irish statesman
  • BornJanuary 12, 1729
  • DiedJuly 9, 1797
  • CountryIreland
  • ProfessionPolitician; Philosopher; Writer