"It is by sympathy we enter into the concerns of others, that we are moved as they are moved, and are never suffered to be indifferent spectators of almost anything which men can do or suffer. For sympathy may be considered as a sort of substitution, by which we are put into the place of another man, and affected in many respects as he is affected."

7 likes

Source: Edmund Burke (1823). “A philosophical inquiry, etc”, p.54

About the author

Edmund Burke

Philosopher, Politician

Edmund Burke was an 18th-century Irish statesman and philosopher, known for his writings on political theory and his critique of the French Revolution.

All quotes by Edmund Burke →

Same author

More quotes by Edmund Burke

See all →
Edmund Burke Philosopher, Politician

"Because half a dozen grasshoppers under a fern make the field ring with their importunate chink, whilst thousands of great cattle, reposed beneath the shadow of the British oak, chew the cud and are silent, pray, to not imagine that those who make the noise are the only inhabitants of the field; that, of course, they are many in number; or that, after all, they are other than the little, shriveled, meagre, hopping, though loud and troublesome insects of the hour."

Read quote