Edmund Burke

Edmund Burke

46 quotes

Edmund Burke, an Anglo-Irish politician, writer and philosopher, is widely remembered for insights that continue to resonate with readers everywhere. Whether reflecting on Men or Great, Edmund Burke brought uncommon clarity to every subject. We feature 60 quotes from Edmund Burke spanning Men, Great, Good, Society, and Religion, making them one of the most prolific voices in our archive. A favorite of many readers: "Magnanimity in politics is not seldom the truest wisdom and a great empire and little minds go ill together."

“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

Great

All Quotes by Edmund Burke

“Under the pressure of the cares and sorrows of our mortal condition, men have at all times, and in all countries, called in some physical aid to their moral consolations - wine, beer, opium, brandy, or tobacco.”

— Edmund Burke

Men

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

— Edmund Burke

Men

“You can never plan the future by the past.”

— Edmund Burke

Future

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

— Edmund Burke

Change

“Beauty in distress is much the most affecting beauty.”

— Edmund Burke

Beauty

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

— Edmund Burke

Society

“It is, generally, in the season of prosperity that men discover their real temper, principles, and designs.”

— Edmund Burke

Men

“Facts are to the mind what food is to the body.”

— Edmund Burke

Food

“Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it.”

— Edmund Burke

History

“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

Age

“I have never yet seen any plan which has not been mended by the observations of those who were much inferior in understanding to the person who took the lead in the business.”

— Edmund Burke

Business

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

— Edmund Burke

Great

“It is the nature of all greatness not to be exact.”

— Edmund Burke

Nature

“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

Wisdom

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

— Edmund Burke

Good

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

— Edmund Burke

Good

“If you can be well without health, you may be happy without virtue.”

— Edmund Burke

Health

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

— Edmund Burke

Great

“All human laws are, properly speaking, only declaratory they have no power over the substance of original justice.”

— Edmund Burke

Power

“Society can overlook murder, adultery or swindling it never forgives preaching of a new gospel.”

— Edmund Burke

Society