Edmund Burke
Ireland
12 Jan 1729 // 9 Jul 1797
Statesman / Author / Orator/ Philosopher
12 Jan 1729 // 9 Jul 1797
Statesman / Author / Orator/ Philosopher
Quotes
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I consider how little man is, yet, in his own mind, how great. He is lord and master of all things, yet scarce can command anything
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
Hypocrisy can afford to be magnificent in its promises, for never intending to go beyond promise, it costs nothing
Humanity cannot be degraded by humiliation
He that borrows the aid of an equal understanding doubles his own; he that uses that of a superior elevates his own to the stature of that he contemplates
He that accuses all mankind of corruption ought to remember that he is sure to convict only one
Guilt was never a rational thing; it distorts all the faculties of the human mind, it perverts them, it leaves a man no longer in the free use of his reason, it puts him into confusion
Greater mischief happens often from folly, meanness, and vanity than from the greater sins of avarice and ambition
Great men are never sufficiently shown but in struggles
Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants
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On Anger: "For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind."
Essays
Essays
On Destiny: "Our destiny exercises its influence over us even when, as yet, we have not learned its nature: it is our future that lays down the law of our today."
Human, All Too Human
Human, All Too Human
On Friendship: "A crowd is not company; and faces are but a gallery of pictures; and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love."
Essays
Essays