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Edmund Burke

Edmund Burke Quotes

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Famous Edmund Burke Quotes

“It is by sympathy we enter into the concerns of others, that we are moved as they are moved, and are never suffered to be indifferent spectators of almost anything which men can do or suffer. For sympathy may be considered as a sort of substitution, by which we are put into the place of another man, and affected in many respects as he is affected.”

MenMaySufferingCan DoConcernMovedAffectedSympathyIndifferentSpectatorsAnother ManSubstitution
Book:A philosophical inquiry, etc
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“Society is indeed a contract. Subordinate contracts for objects of mere occasional interest may be dissolved at pleasure - but the state ought not to be considered as nothing better than a partnership agreement in a trade of pepper and coffee, calico, or tobacco, or some other such low concern, to be taken up for a little temporary interest, and to be dissolved by the fancy of the parties. It is to be looked on with other reverence, because it is not a partnership in things subservient only to the gross animal existence of a temporary and perishable nature.”

MayLittlesStatesInterestPleasureAnimalPartyExistenceTakenObjectsOughtLowsConcernTradeMereEnvironmentalCoffeeFancyAgreementTemporaryContractsReverenceSustainabilityPartnershipGrossOccasionalTobaccoSubordinatesPeppersSubservient
Book:Delphi Complete Works of Edmund Burke (Illustrated)
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“A man is allowed sufficient freedom of thought, provided he knows how to choose his subject properly.... But the scene is changed as you come homeward, and atheism or treason may be the names given in Britain to what would be reason and truth if asserted in China.”

IfsKnowsMenMayReasonWould BeNamesGivenKnow HowAtheismSubjectsChangedSceneChinaSufficientBritainComing HomeFreedom Of ThoughtTreason
Book:Delphi Complete Works of Edmund Burke (Illustrated)
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“A kind Providence has placed in our breasts a hatred of the unjust and cruel, in order that we may preserve ourselves from cruelty and injustice. They who bear cruelty, are accomplices in it. The pretended gentleness which excludes that charitable rancour, produces an indifference which is half an approbation. They never will love where they ought to love, who do not hate where they ought to hate.”

KindMayHateOrderHalfProduceBearsOughtHatredInjusticeCrueltyPreservesIndifferenceBreastsProvidenceUnjustGentlenessCharitableAccomplices
Book:The Works of the Right Hon. Edmund Burke, with a biographical and critical introduction, by Henry Rogers, and portrait after Sir Joshua Reynolds
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“Whatever is fitted in any sort to excite the ideas of pain and danger, that is to say, whatever is in any sort terrible, or is conversant about terrible objects, or operates in a manner analogous to terror, is a source of the sublime; that is, it is productive of the strongest emotion which the mind is capable of feeling... When danger or pain press too nearly, they are incapable of giving any delight, and are simply terrible; but at certain distances, and with certain modifications, they may be, and they are, delightful, as we every day experience.”

GivingMindMayIdeasFeelingsPainCertainEmotionDangerObjectsSourceTerribleCapablePressesTerrorDelightProductiveStrongestIncapableSublimeDelightfulModificationSublimity
Author:Edmund Burke
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“The science of constructing a commonwealth or renovating it, or reforming it, is...not to be taught a priori...That which in the first instance is prejudicial may be excellent in its remoter operation, and its excellence may rise even from the ill effects it produces in the beginning. The reverse also happens; and very plausible schemes, with very pleasing commencements, have often shameful and lamentable conclusions.”

FirstsMayGovernmentHappensEffectsProduceTaughtExcellenceIllConclusionInstanceExcellentOperationsSchemesReverseShamefulCommonwealthPlausibleCommencement
Author:Edmund Burke
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“We are in a war of a peculiar nature. It is not with an ordinary community, which is hostile or friendly as passion or as interest may veer about: not with a state which makes war through wantonness, and abandons it through lassitude. We are at war with a system, which by its essence, is inimical to all other governments, and which makes peace or war, as peace and war may best contribute to their subversion. It is with an armed doctrine that we are at war. It has, by its essence, a faction of opinion, and of interest, and of enthusiasm, in every country.”

MayWarCountryStatesGovernmentPassionInterestCommunityOpinionHistoryOrdinaryEssenceDoctrineEnthusiasmFriendlyAbandonPeculiarHostileMaking PeaceFactionsSubversion
Author:Edmund Burke
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“I dread our own power, and our own ambition; I dread our being too much dreaded... We may say that we shall not abuse this astonishing, and hitherto unheard-of-power. But every other nation will think we shall abuse it. It is impossible but that, sooner or later, this state of things must produce a combination against us which may end in our ruin.”

ThinkingMayEndsStatesNationsToo MuchImpossibleProduceAmbitionAbuseRuinsCombinationDreadSooner Or LaterAstonishingUnheardGlobal Issues
Author:Edmund Burke
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