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17 quotes

Edmund Burke

~ 1729 - 1797

Edmund Burke (1729–1797) was an Irish statesman, philosopher, and political theorist. He is best known for his advocacy of conservative thought, his opposition to the French Revolution, and his support for individual liberties and the rights of colonized peoples. Burke's writings had a profound influence on political philosophy and are considered foundational to modern conservatism.

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

    Edmund Burke
    #knowledge#fear#empowerment

  2. You can never plan the future by the past.

    Edmund Burke
    #future#planning#change

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

    Edmund Burke
    #evil#action#morality

  4. 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
    #chivalry#decline#glory

  5. The arrogance of age must submit to be taught by youth.

    Edmund Burke
    #age#humility#learning

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

    Edmund Burke
    #unity#struggle#morality

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

    Edmund Burke
    #fear#passion#reasoning

  8. Ambition can creep as well as soar.

    Edmund Burke
    #ambition#growth#duality

  9. The traveller has reached the end of the journey!

    Edmund Burke
    #journey#exploration#conclusion

  10. Our patience will achieve more than our force.

    Edmund Burke
    #patience#strength#achievement

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

    Edmund BurkeLetters on a Regicide Peace, Letter 1 On the Overtures of Peace, 1796
    #wealth#freedom#control

  12. Beauty is the promise of happiness.

    Edmund BurkeA Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas Of the Sublime and Beautiful, 1756
    #beauty#happiness#promise

  13. To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting.

    Edmund Burke
    #reading#reflection#understanding

  14. 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 BurkeReflections on the Revolution in France, 1790
    #liberty#wisdom#virtue

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

    Edmund BurkeLetter to Sir Hercules Langrishe, 1792
    #change#nature#law

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

    Edmund BurkeElementary Sketches of Moral Philosophy, p. 185, 1850
    #mistake#action#potential

  17. The best people possess a feeling for beauty, the courage to take risks, the discipline to tell the truth, the capacity for sacrifice.

    Edmund BurkeA Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful, 1757, 2nd edition 1759
    #beauty#courage#sacrifice