H. L. 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.

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

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

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.

There's nothing like rejection to make you do an inventory of yourself.

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.

And then, I do love my shopping, but actually, lounging is the big thing.

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.

You persuade a man only insofar as you can talk his language by speech, gesture, tonality, order, image, attitude, idea, identifying your ways with his

Having Down syndrome is like being born normal. I am just like you and you are just like me. We are all born in different ways, that is the way I can describe it. I have a normal life.

Wherever there is persuasion, there is rhetoric, and wherever there is rhetoric, there is meaning.

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.

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

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

We not only interpret the character of events... we may also interpret our interpretations.

Any commander who fails to exceed his authority is not of much use to his subordinates.

I'm horrified of lobsters. And shrimp and lobsters are the cockroaches of the ocean.

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.

A way of seeing is also a way of not seeing.

A woman past forty should make up her mind to be young; not her face.

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 used to save all my rejection slips because I told myself, one day I'm going to autograph these and auction them. And then I lost the box.

Stories are equipment for living.

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.

Good instincts usually tell you what to do long before your head has figured it out.

All of your quotes are getting on my nerves.

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 progress of human enlightenment can go no further than in picturing people not as vicious, but as mistaken.

We don't grow unless we take risks. Any successful company is riddled with failures.

If our words are not consistent with our actions, they will never be heard above the thunder of our deeds.

I don't like to be labeled as lonely just because I am alone.

The essence of tyranny is the enforcement of stupid laws.

Words are like planets, each with its own gravitational pull.

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.

If there is any human tragedy, there is only one, and it occurs when we forget who we are and remain silent while a stranger takes up residence inside our skin.

The difference between a good and great officer is about ten seconds.