Edmund Burke Quotes

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The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

Edmund Burke

Inspirational, Wisdom, Witty

363 Copy quote
Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it.

Edmund Burke

Wisdom, Historical, Conservative

171 Copy quote
The hottest fires in hell are reserved for those who remain neutral in times of moral crisis.

Edmund Burke

Motivational, Peace, Fire

165 Copy quote
The Fate of good men who refuse to become involved in politics is to be ruled by evil men.

Edmund Burke

Fate, Men, Evil

101 Copy quote
Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.

Edmund Burke

Life, Courage, Time

167 Copy quote
The essence of tyranny is the enforcement of stupid laws.

Edmund Burke

Stupid, Law, Essence

63 Copy quote
Liberty does not exist in the absence of morality.

Edmund Burke

Liberty, Doe, Morality

31 Copy quote
When you fear something, learn as much about it as you can. Knowledge conquers fear.

Edmund Burke

Conquer, Conquering Fear

101 Copy quote
In a democracy, the majority of the citizens is capable of exercising the most cruel oppressions upon the minority.

Edmund Burke

Freedom, Exercise, Democracy

Edmund Burke (1790). “Reflections on the Revolution in France: And on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. In a Letter Intended to Have Been Sent to a Gentleman in Paris”, p.186

119 Copy quote
Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites…in proportion as they are more disposed to listen to the counsels of the wise and good, in preference to the flattery of knaves. Society cannot exist, unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere; and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.

Edmund Burke

Wise, Passion, Men

Letter to a Member of the National Assembly, 1791.

137 Copy quote
All that is necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing as they must if they believe they can do nothing. There is nothing worse because the council of despair is declaration of irresponsibility; it is Pilate washing his hands.

Edmund Burke

Believe, Men, Hands

48 Copy quote
Silence is golden but when it threatens your freedom it's yellow.

Edmund Burke

Yellow, Silence, Golden

157 Copy quote
Those who have been once intoxicated with power, and have derived any kind of emolument from it, even though but for one year, never can willingly abandon it. They may be distressed in the midst of all their power; but they will never look to anything but power for their relief.

Edmund Burke

Power, Years, Relief

'Letter to a Member of the National Assembly' (1791) p. 12

124 Copy quote
Kings will be tyrants from policy, when subjects are rebels from principle.

Edmund Burke

Kings, Tyrants, Principles

'Reflections on the Revolution in France' (1790) p. 116

22 Copy quote
All men have equal rights, but not to equal things.

Edmund Burke

Equality, Men, Rights

Edmund Burke (1834). “The Works of the Right Hon. Edmund Burke: With a Biographical and Critical Introduction, and Portrait After Sir Joshua Reynolds”, p.403

40 Copy quote
Evil prevails when good men fail to act.

Edmund Burke

Men, Evil, Good Man

30 Copy quote
To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting.

Edmund Burke

Reading, Book, Thinking

81 Copy quote
The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse.

Edmund Burke

Bullying, Freedom, Work

Speech on the Middlesex Election, 7 February 1771, in 'The Speeches' (1854)

106 Copy quote
History is a pact between the dead, the living, and the yet unborn.

Edmund Burke

Carpe Diem, Pact, Carpe

80 Copy quote
When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.

Edmund Burke

Honesty, Integrity, War

Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents (1770) See Edmund Burke 28; Mill 18

24 Copy quote
It is a general popular error to suppose the loudest complainers for the public to be the most anxious for its welfare.

Edmund Burke

Errors, Liberty, Grumbling

'Observations on...the Present State of the Nation' (1769)

102 Copy quote
The great difference between the real leader and the pretender is that the one sees into the future, while the other regards only the present; the one lives by the day, and acts upon expediency; the other acts on enduring principles and for the immortality.

Edmund Burke

Leadership, Real, Differences

17 Copy quote
Freedom without virtue is not freedom but license to pursue whatever passions prevail in the intemperate mind; man's right to freedom being in exact proportion to his willingness to put chains upon his own appetites; the less restraint from within, the more must be imposed from without.

Edmund Burke

Passion, Men, Mind

16 Copy quote
Hypocrisy can afford to be magnificent in its promises, for never intending to go beyond promise, it costs nothing.

Edmund Burke

Hypocrisy, Broken Promises, Cost

87 Copy quote
Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion.

Edmund Burke

Sacrifice, Government, Political

Speech to electors of Bristol, 3 Nov. 1774

22 Copy quote

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Born: January 12, 1729
Died: July 9, 1797
Occupation: Statesman
Cite this Page: Citation

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