Edmund Burke Quotes

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

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

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

Silence is golden but when it threatens your freedom it's yellow.

The hottest fires in hell are reserved for those who remain neutral in times of moral crisis.

In a democracy, the majority of the citizens is capable of exercising the most cruel oppressions upon the minority.

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

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

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

The Fate of good men who refuse to become involved in politics is to be ruled by evil men.

The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse.

Hypocrisy can afford to be magnificent in its promises, for never intending to go beyond promise, it costs nothing.

To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting.

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

History is a pact between the dead, the living, and the yet unborn.

But the age of chivalry is gone. That of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded; and the glory of Europe is extinguished forever.

To make us love our country, our country ought to be lovely.

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

People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors.

Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites.

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.

Old religious factions are volcanoes burned out; on the lava and ashes and squalid scoriae of old eruptions grow the peaceful olive, the cheering vine and the sustaining corn.

Nothing turns out to be so oppressive and unjust as a feeble government.

I cannot help concurring with the opinion that an absolute democracy, no more than absolute monarchy, is to be reckoned among the legitimate forms of government.

There is but one law for all, namely that law which governs all law, the law of our Creator, the law of humanity, justice, equity - the law of nature and of nations.

There is no safety for honest men, but by believing all possible evil of evil men, and by acting with promptitude, decision, and steadiness on that belief.

The essence of tyranny is the enforcement of stupid laws.

The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion.

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

People crushed by law, have no hopes but from power. If laws are their enemies, they will be enemies to laws; and those who have much hope and nothing to lose, will always be dangerous.

Our patience will achieve more than our force.

All men have equal rights, but not to equal things.

The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedience, and by parts.

Those who have been intoxicated with power... can never willingly abandon it.

This sort of people are so taken up with their theories about the rights of man that they have totally forgotten his nature.

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

Applause is the spur of noble minds, the end and aim of weak ones.

A State without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation.

Good order is the foundation of all things.

You can never plan the future by the past.

A great empire and little minds go ill together.

All the forces of darkness need to succeed ... is for the people to do nothing.

Among a people generally corrupt liberty cannot long exist.

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

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

Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny.

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.

In history, a great volume is unrolled for our instruction, drawing the materials of future wisdom from the past errors and infirmities of mankind.

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

Evil prevails when good men fail to act.