Edmund Burke was one of the main references of British culture. Writer, politician and philosopher of Irish origin, who was later known as the “father of conservative liberalism” in the United Kingdom, Burke promoted a society that preserved its traditions despite the technological advances that would come, which is why he was against the Revolution. French.
In this article you will find a summary of the best quotes of Edmund Burke which express the philosophy and political opinions of this author.
To remember his work and legacy, we have brought in this article a compilation of Edmund Burke’s most memorable phrases about the importance of conservatism in society.
16. You should not do what a lawyer tells you, but what humanity, reason and justice tell you.
There are lawyers who are only motivated by money and the favors they can obtain.
17. Fear is the most ignorant, the most insulting and the cruelest of counselors.
There is nothing beneficial when we are guided by fear.
18. Should intolerance be tolerated?
A very interesting question, to reflect on.
19. No passion so effectively eliminates the mind’s ability to act and reason as fear does.
Fear prevents us from moving forward.
20. Someone said that a king can make a nobleman, but he cannot make a knight.
Nobles could be anyone, but knights fought for honor.
21. The path of the human spirit is slow.
Slowly but surely, if we know how to listen.
22. The tyranny of a multitude is a multiplied tyranny.
A tyranny difficult to defeat.
23. Human society constitutes an association of sciences, arts, virtues and perfections.
We need all these elements to be complete.
24. In a democracy, the majority of citizens is capable of exercising the cruelest repression against the minority.
A warning about the danger of democracy.
25. Never despair. But if it comes to it, keep working despite the desperation.
Staying in despair causes us to lose focus.
26. All kinds of governments – and, in fact, any profit and satisfaction, any virtue and prudent action – are based on commitments and pacts.
Commitment is essential for any act.
27. It is necessary to humanly resist the idea, speculative or practical, that it is within the powers of the Government, as such a Government, or even of the rich, by virtue of being rich, to provide the poor with those necessary goods that Divine Providence has wanted to take them away temporarily.
The government only directs a nation, it does not have the right to impose itself on its people.
28. Only he who has the capacity to suffer a lot can aspire to do great things.
People who overcome their difficulties are capable of doing great things.
29. Falsehood has a perennial spring.
Falsehood is a weapon that disguises itself as kindness.
30. Laws, like houses, support each other.
The way the laws should work.
31. The law is the security of the people, the security of each of the governed and the security of each of the rulers.
Therefore, laws must protect and care for everyone equally.
32. Happy is he who was young in his youth, happy is he who knew how to mature in time.
Each stage of life must be lived.
33. The first and simplest emotion that we discover in the human mind is curiosity.
Curiosity is the most natural emotion of people.
34. Freedom must also be limited to be possessed.
Excessive freedom turns into anarchy.
35. Vice itself loses half of its evil when it loses all its coarseness.
When things stop having power over us, they become smaller.
36. Flattery corrupts both those who receive it and those who give it.
Flattery creates egocentrics and submissives alike.
37. What sometimes separates men from God, also separates men from men.
Human understanding must go beyond beliefs.
38. Someone who confuses good and evil is an enemy of good.
Because it can excuse a bad act, being a good intention.
39. The press, the fourth estate!
The press has the power to communicate or destroy.
40. In the same way that wealth is power, all power infallibly attracts wealth to itself by one means or another.
The relationship between power and money.
41. Jealous love lights its torch in the fire of the furies.
Jealousy is never a good ally.
42. A great educator: time.
Time teaches us things that we did not understand before.
43. The age of the knight has passed. He has succeeded that of the sophists, the economists, the calculators; and the glory of Europe has been extinguished forever.
Lamenting the way Europe was evolving at that time.
44. The concessions of the weak are concessions of fear.
Fear makes us vulnerable.
45. While shame watches over, virtue is not completely extinguished in the heart; nor will moderation be completely exiled from the minds of tyrants.
Shame can make us reflect on our actions.
46. Kings will be tyrants by policy when the subjects are rebellious by principle.
Criticizing both the crown and senseless rebellions.
47. Man according to his condition is nothing more than a religious animal.
A harsh view on people.
48. Your representative owes you, not only his industriousness, but also his judgment; and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion.
Many threaten their workers to prevent them from disclosing their mistreatment at work.
49. Between cunning and credulity, the voice of reason is suffocated.
Two extremes into which we should not fall.
50. Contempt is not something that should be hated. It can be endured with a calm and impartial mind.
Contempt is not always a bad thing, if it keeps you away from the wrong people.
51. Many times, a light dinner, a peaceful sleep and a serene morning emboldened to heroism a man who, with a heavy stomach, few hours of sleep and a rainy morning, would have been a coward.
The simplest things are the most appreciated.
52. Liberty, and not slavery, is the antidote to anarchy; just as religion, not atheism, is the true remedy for superstition.
Which really eliminates ignorance.
53. Reading without reflecting is like eating without digesting.
An apt comparison.
54. It is the nature of all greatness not to be exact.
Perfection does not exist.
55. All human laws are, properly speaking, only declarative; they have no power over the substance of original justice.
Justice must try to be as fair as possible.
56. I know that sensitivity of principles, that chastity of honor, that felt a stain like a painful wound, was forever.
The honor of yesteryear was left behind after the revolution and industrialization.
57. A war never leaves a nation in the same place where it found it.
He always sweeps her off her feet.
58. A very large part of the evils that afflict the world derive from words.
Many wounds that are difficult to heal are those caused by cruel words.
59. We cannot fight the future. Time is on your side.
And time never stops.
60. Men who go bankrupt always do so on the side of their natural inclinations.
62. The greater the power, the more dangerous its abuse.
This is because powerful people believe they are untouchable.
63. Tolerance is good for everyone, or it is not good for anyone.
We cannot tolerate something unfair just out of obligation.
64. There is a limit at which tolerance stops being a virtue.
It becomes a mockery for people.
Related article: “How to be more tolerant: 5 practical tips”
65. Education is the best defense of nations.
Education is the infallible tool to create whole people.
66. We must not always judge the generality of opinion by the noise of acclamation.
You should never fall into the trap of generalizing something.
67. Custom is the soul of states.
When something cannot be changed, it becomes routine.
68. Before congratulating ourselves for giving people freedom, we must ask ourselves what they will do with it.
There are tyrants who take advantage of freedom to suppress the people.
69. The biggest mistake is made by those who do nothing because they could only do a little.
All our actions count, whether big or small.
70. Custom reconciles us with everything.
Trying to make known the importance of traditions.
71. We must all obey the great law of change. It is the most powerful law of nature.
When we do not adapt to changes, we are left behind.
72. But what is freedom without wisdom and virtue? It is the greatest of all possible evils; because it is folly, vice and madness, without protection or restriction.
A debauchery without responsibility.
73. A woman is not made to be the admiration of everyone, but rather the happiness of one.
Women are not objects.
74. We, the people, should be judicious, and understand that it is not by breaking the laws of commerce that we can hope to mitigate Divine disfavor.
A call for reflection on tearing down laws, instead of improving them.
75. The laws of commerce are the laws of Nature and, consequently, the laws of God.
Giving importance to the laws of commerce.
76. No one can mortgage their injustice as a pledge of their fidelity.
Fidelity should be a voluntary internal act, not an obligation.
77. What shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue!
We pursue what we need.
78. Abstract freedom, like other simple abstractions, cannot be found.
There is no such thing as abstract freedom.
79. Since its goals cannot be achieved in many generations, not only the living participate in this association, but also those who have died and those who are yet to be born.
Everything we do today has an impact on future generations.
80. Favoritism burdens us more heavily than many millions of debt.
Favoritism generates injustice.
81. Many believe that moderation is a kind of betrayal.
Especially those who want to have absolute and unlimited power.
82. If we control our wealth, we will be rich and free. On the other hand, if our wealth dominates us, we will be poor.
A difference that not everyone can be clear about.
83. Our antagonist is our helper.
Because it makes us discover our true strength.
84. The various types of government compete with each other in the absurdity of their constitutions and in the oppression they make their subjects suffer. Take them in whatever form you please, in effect they are nothing more than despotism.
Governments in an eternal power struggle.
85. Those who do not know history are destined to repeat it.
A lesson that many nations have not yet learned.
86. Precocious and far-sighted fear is the mother of security.
When we move forward despite fear, we gain confidence.
87. As he is the most shameless, he is also the most fearless. No man apprehends in his person that he may be subject to punishment.
Everyone believes that their actions are justified.
88. Being pleasing when collecting taxes and being wise when loving are virtues that have not been granted to men.
Unfortunately, public powers are exercised by less than humane people.
89. He who fights against us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill.
They help us to be better.
90. The approval of their own acts has for them the appearance of a public judgment in their favor. A perfect democracy is, therefore, the most shameless thing in the world.
For Burke, democracy is a utopia for those who have delusions of power.
91. You can never plan the future through the past.
If you drag your past, you will never reach your future.
92. I need not apologize to your Lordship, nor, I believe, to any honest man, for the zeal I have shown in this cause; because it is honest zeal, and for a good cause.
Without regretting his ideals.
93. Consider the havoc committed in the bowels of all republics.
For Burke, Republics are the worst tyranny.
94. The passion for fame: a passion that is an instinct of all great souls.
Everyone has dreamed of being famous at some point.
95. Man is not a finished creation.
We are constantly evolving.
96. No group can act with confidence if it is not bound by common opinions, common affections, common interests.
Every united group must have common things to share.
97. Kings are ambitious; the haughty nobility; and the tumultuous and ungovernable populace.
The people in constant struggle against the monarchy.
98. Vices that could get little support from a state of nature, but flourish and flourish in the rancidity of political society.
What is engendered in democracies.
99. I have defended natural religion against a confederation of atheists and theologians. I now advocate natural society against politicians, and natural reason against all three.
The origin behind its cause.
100. Complaining about the times in which we live, murmuring about the present rulers, lamenting the past and conceiving extravagant hopes for the future, these are all dispositions common to most men.
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