Have you been hunting for the perfect Edmund Burke quotes?
Maybe youāve scrolled through pages and pages online, trying to find words that inspire, teach, or just sound cool. Well, stop right there!
As soon as you opened this article, your search is over. Weāve got the best Edmund Burke quotes waiting for you, sorted into simple categories that anyoneāeven an 8-year-oldācan understand and share with their family.
Letās dive into the wisdom of this famous thinker and find exactly what you need!
Edmund Burke Quotes on Wisdom and Knowledge
Edmund Burke loved talking about how we learn and grow smart. These quotes are like little treasures for anyone who wants to understand life better.
- The first and simplest emotion which we discover in the human mind is curiosity.
- Reading without reflecting is like eating without digesting.
- A man full of warm speculative benevolence may wish his society otherwise constituted than he finds it.
- People crushed by law have no hopes but from power.
- Wisdom is not the purchase of a day.
- To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting.
- You can never plan the future by the past.
- Education is the cheap defense of nations.
- Good order is the foundation of all things.
- The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse.
- Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.
- Those who donāt know history are destined to repeat it.
- It is the nature of all greatness not to be exact.
- Learning will be cast into the mire and trodden down under the hoofs of a swinish multitude.
- The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
Edmund Burke Quotes on Freedom and Liberty
Burke had big ideas about being free and making your own choices. These sayings are perfect if you love the idea of liberty.
- Liberty must be limited in order to be possessed.
- Among a people generally corrupt, liberty cannot long exist.
- The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion.
- Whenever a separation is made between liberty and justice, neither is safe.
- The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedience, and by parts.
- It is the interest of the commercial world that wealth should be found everywhere.
- Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites.
- All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing.
- Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny.
- Freedom and not servitude is the cure of anarchy.
- The effect of liberty to individuals is that they may do what they please.
- Toleration is good for all, or it is good for none.
- When bad men combine, the good must associate.
- Power gradually extirpates from the mind every humane and gentle virtue.
- People will not look forward to posterity who never look backward to their ancestors.
Edmund Burke Quotes on Society and Community
Burke thought a lot about how people live together. These quotes show his ideas on building a happy group of friends or a strong town.
- Society is indeed a contract.
- Manners are of more importance than laws.
- No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear.
- Our patience will achieve more than our force.
- The march of the human mind is slow.
- Custom reconciles us to everything.
- The only liberty I mean is a liberty connected with order.
- Religion is the basis of civil society.
- It is not what a lawyer tells me I may do, but what humanity, reason, and justice tell me I ought to do.
- The tyranny of a multitude is a multiplied tyranny.
- There is a boundary to menās passions when they act from feelings.
- Justice is itself the great standing policy of civil society.
- Laws, like houses, lean on one another.
- Superstition is the religion of feeble minds.
- Nothing is so fatal to religion as indifference.
Edmund Burke Quotes on Change and Progress
Burke had cool thoughts about how things change over time. These quotes are great for anyone who likes new ideas or fixing old problems.
- A state without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation.
- Progress is not a straight line but a winding path.
- Change is the way of life for a healthy society.
- Those who attempt to level never equalize.
- We must reform in order to preserve.
- To innovate is not to reform.
- The past is a guidepost, not a hitching post.
- Nothing turns out to be so oppressive and unjust as a feeble government.
- A spirit of innovation is generally the result of a selfish temper and confined views.
- By gnawing through a dike, even a rat may drown a nation.
- Reform is not a destruction but a renewal.
- The best way to preserve is to improve.
- Time mellows what youth finds harsh.
- Every revolution contains within it the seeds of its own destruction.
- Growth is slow, but ruin is rapid.
Edmund Burke Quotes on Leadership and Power
Burke knew leaders have a big job. These quotes talk about how to be a good boss or guide for others.
- Ambition can creep as well as soar.
- Kings will be tyrants from policy when subjects are rebels from principle.
- The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse.
- Flattery corrupts both the receiver and the giver.
- Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
- He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill.
- Authority is a trust, not a possession.
- Great men are the guideposts and landmarks in the state.
- Example is the school of mankind, and they will learn at no other.
- To govern is to serve, not to rule.
- The arrogance of age must submit to be taught by youth.
- Those who have been once intoxicated with power can never willingly abandon it.
- A leader without followers is only taking a walk.
- Responsibility is the price of greatness.
- The use of force alone is but temporary.
Edmund Burke Quotes on Morality and Virtue
Burke cared about being good and doing the right thing. These quotes are like a map for living a kind and honest life.
- Hypocrisy can afford to be magnificent in its promises.
- Virtue is the only true nobility.
- There is no safety for honest men except by believing all possible evil of evil men.
- The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.
- Justice is the great standing policy of civil society.
- Morality is the foundation of law.
- Evil succeeds when good men stand idle.
- Conscience is the most sacred of all property.
- Prudence is not only the first in rank of virtues but the parent of all.
- Vice itself lost half its evil by losing all its grossness.
- Men are never so good or so bad as their opinions.
- Compassion is the natural offspring of justice.
- Duty is the cement of society.
- Truth is the ultimate test of virtue.
- Honor is the reward of virtue.
Conclusion
Edmund Burkeās words are like a big box of toolsāthey help us think about wisdom, freedom, community, change, leadership, and being good. This article brought you 90 of his best quotes, sorted into six easy groups.
Whether youāre looking for something to share with friends, use in a school project, or just enjoy yourself, Burkeās simple yet powerful ideas can light the way.
His thoughts from long ago still feel fresh today, making them perfect for anyone who wants to understand life a little better.
