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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As to great and commanding talents, they are the gift of providence in some way unknown to us. They rise where they are least expected. They fail when everything seems disposed to produce them, or at least to call them forth
As those things which engage us merely by their novelty cannot attach us for any length of time, curiosity is the most superficial of all the affections
An extreme rigor is sure to arm everything against it
An entire life of solitude contradicts the purpose of our being, since death itself is scarcely an idea of more terror
An appearance of delicacy, and even of fragility, is almost essential to beauty
Among a people generally corrupt liberty cannot long exist
All human laws are, properly speaking, only declaratory; they have no power over the substance of original justice
A very good part of the mischiefs that vex the world arises from words
A true artist should put a generous deceit on the spectators, and effect the noblest designs: by easy methods
A speculative despair is unpardonable where it is our duty to act
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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