Quotes from Edmund Burke

The wise determine from the gravity of the case; the irritable, from sensibility to oppression; the high minded, from disdain and indignation at abusive power in unworthy hands.

Nothing, indeed, but the possession of some power can with any certainty discover what at the bottom is the true character of any man.

All human laws are, properly speaking, only declaratory; they may alter the mode and application, but have no power over the substance of original justice.

Law and arbitrary power are at eternal enmity.

Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere, and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without.

People must be taken as they are, and we should never try make them or ourselves better by quarreling with them.

A jealous lover lights his torch from the firebrand of the fiend.

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

It is the interest of the commercial world that wealth should be found everywhere.

Slavery is a weed that grows on every soil.

Liberty must be limited in order to be possessed.

The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse.

The religion most prevalent in our northern colonies is a refinement on the principles of resistance: it is the dissidence of dissent, and the protestantism of the Protestant religion.

Freedom and not servitude is the cure of anarchy; as religion, and not atheism, is the true remedy of superstition.

I take toleration to be a part of religion. I do not know which I would sacrifice; I would keep them both: it is not necessary that I should sacrifice either.

The writers against religion whilst they oppose every system are wisely careful never to set up any of their own.

It is known that the taste--whatever it is--is improved exactly as we improve our judgment, by extending our knowledge, by a steady attention to our object, and by frequent exercise.

He that struggles with us strengthens our nerves, and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper.

It is a general popular error to suppose the loudest complainers for the public to be the most anxious for its welfare.

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

When ancient opinions and rules of life are taken away, the loss cannot possibly be estimated. From that moment, we have no compass to govern us, nor can we know distinctly to what port to steer.

Whenever a separation is made between liberty and justice, neither, in my opinion, is safe.

Whenever our neighbour's house is on fire, it cannot be amiss for the engines to play a little on our own.

Frugality is founded on the principal that all riches have limits.