The quotations of

Edmund Burke

Anglo-Irish statesman, political theorist and conservative philosopher

1729–1797

57 quotes, most often on Government, Religion and Politics.

The writers against religion, whilst they oppose every system, are wisely careful never to set up any of their own.
A Vindication of Natural Society (1756), Preface
- Clever Jabs
- Religion
I am convinced that we have a degree of delight, and that no small one, in the real misfortunes and pains of others.
A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful (1757)
- Emotion
And having looked to Government for bread, on the very first scarcity they will turn and bite the hand that fed them.
Thoughts and Details on Scarcity (1795)
- Government
All government — indeed, every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue and every prudent act — is founded on compromise and barter.
Second Speech on Conciliation with America (1775)
- Government
Hypocrisy, of course, delights in the most sublime speculations; for, never intending to go beyond speculation, it costs nothing to have it magnificent.
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)
- Truth & Lies
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.
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)
- Justice
It looks to me to be narrow and pedantic to apply the ordinary ideas of criminal justice to this great public contest. I do not know the method of drawing up an indictment against a whole people.
Second Speech on Conciliation with America (1775)
- Justice
Magnanimity in politics is not seldom the truest wisdom; and a great empire and little minds go ill together.
Second Speech on Conciliation with America (1775)
- Politics
- Wisdom
We must all obey the great law of change. It is the most powerful law of nature, and the means perhaps of its conservation.
Letter to Sir Hercules Langrishe (1792)
- Change
- Nature
Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion.
Speech to the Electors of Bristol (3 November 1774); reported in The Works of the Right Honorable Edmund Burke (1899), vol. 2, p. 95
- Democracy
- Politics
Never expecting to find perfection in men, and not looking for divine attributes in created beings, in my commerce with my contemporaries, I have found much human virtue.
Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol (1777)
- Virtue
People must be governed in a manner agreeable to their temper and disposition; and men of free character and spirit must be ruled with, at least, some condescension to this spirit and this character.
Observations on a Late Publication on the Present State of the Nation (1769), page 76.
- Government

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