Inspirational Quotes by Edmund Burke
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
topics: evil
“Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it.”
“Woman is not made to be the admiration of all, but the happiness of one.”
“Reading without reflecting is like eating without digesting.”
topics: reading
“Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.”
“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. Those who know what virtuous liberty is, cannot bear to see it disgraced by incapable heads, on account of their having high-sounding words in their mouths.”
“Never apologise for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologise for the truth.”
“Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods." [Preface to (1794)]”
topics: arrogance , judgment , knowledge , omniscience , pomposity , preface-to-brissot-s-address , presumption , ridicule , truth
“It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.”
“When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.”
topics: struggle
“No power so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear.”
topics: fear
“He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper.”
“Among a people generally corrupt, liberty cannot long exist.”
“If we command our wealth, we shall be rich and free. If our wealth commands us, we are poor indeed.”
topics: wealth
“It is a general popular error to imagine the loudest complainers for the public to be the most anxious for its welfare.”
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Edmund Burke, was born in Dublin, January 12, educated at a Quaker boarding school and at Trinity College, Dublin. In 1750 he entered the Middle Temple, London, but soon abandoned law for literary work.
The best of Burke's writings and speeches belong to this period, and may be described as a defense of sound constitutional statesmanship against prevailing abuse and misgovernment. In 1788 he opened the trial of Warren Hastings by the speech which will always rank among the masterpieces of English eloquence.
Burke had vast knowledge of political affairs, a glowing imagination, passionate sympathies, and an inexhaustible wealth of powerful and cultured expression. However, his delivery was awkward and speeches which today captivate the reader only served to empty the benches of the House of Commons (some speeches were in excess of eight hours).
One of the foremost political thinkers of 18th century England, Burke died July 9, 1797, and was buried in a little church at Beaconsfield.