"Somebody has said, that a king may make a nobleman but he cannot make a gentleman."
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Quote collection
Edmund Burke quotes (page 18 of 25)
492 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"I find along with many virtues in my countrymen there is a jealousy, a soreness, and readiness to take offence, as if they were the most helpless and impotent of mankind, and yet a violence... and a boistrousness in their resentment, as if they had been puffed up with the highest prosperity and power. they will not only be served, but it must also be in their own way and on their own principles and even in words and language that they liked... which renders it very difficult for a plain unguarded man as I am to have anything to do with them or their affairs."
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"A nation without means of reform is without means of survival."
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"Taxing is an easy business. Any projector can contrive new compositions, any bungler can add to the old."
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"He was not merely a chip off the old block, but the old block itself."
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"An entire life of solitude contradicts the purpose of our being, since death itself is scarcely an idea of more terror."
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"In general the languages of most unpolished people have a great force and energy of expression; and this is but natural. Uncultivated people are but ordinary observers of things, and not critical in distinguishing them; but, for that reason, they admire more, and are more affected with what they see, and therefore express themselves in a warmer and more passionate manner."
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"Men want to be reminded, who do not want to be taught; because those original ideas of rectitude to which the mind is compelled to assent when they are proposed, are not always as present to us as they ought to be."
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"Not men but measures a sort of charm by which many people get loose from every honorable engagement."
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"I know of nothing sublime which is not some modification of power."
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"In on summer they have done their business... they have completely pulled down to the ground their monarchy, their church, their nobility, their law, their revenue, their army, their navy, their commerce, their arts, and their manufactures... destroyed all balances and counterpoises which serve to fix a state and give it steady direction, and then they melted down the whole into one incongrous mass of mob and democracy... the people, along with their political servitude, have thrown off the yoke of law and morals."
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"It may be observed, that very polished languages, and such as are praised for their superior clearness and perspicuity, are generally deficient in strength."
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"Nnothing tends more to the corruption of science than to suffer it to stagnate. These waters must be troubled, before they can exert their virtues."
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"Nothing is so rash as fear; and the counsels of pusillanimity very rarely put off, whilst they are always sure to aggravate, the evils from which they would fly."
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"If the prudence of reserve and decorum dictates silence in some circumstances, in others prudence of a higher order may justify us in speaking our thoughts."
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"The men of England,- the men, I mean, of light and leading in England."
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"It is by bribing, not so often by being bribed, that wicked politicians bring ruin on mankind. Avarice is a rival to the pursuits of many."
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"Teach me, O lark! with thee to greatly rise, to exalt my soul and lift it to the skies."
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"Obstinacy, sir, is certainly a great vice; and in the changeful state of political affairs it is frequently the cause of great mischief. It happens, however, very unfortunately, that almost the whole line of the great and masculine virtues--constancy, gravity, magnanimity, fortitude, fidelity, and firmness--are closely allied to this disagreeable quality, of which you have so just an abhorrence; and in their excess all these virtues very easily fall into it."
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"Turbulent, discontented men of quality, in proportion as they are puffed up with personal pride and arrogance, generally despise their own order."
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