Edmund Burke

Ireland
12 Jan 1729 // 9 Jul 1797
Statesman / Author / Orator/ Philosopher

Quotes

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When the leaders choose to make themselves bidders at an auction of popularity, their talents, in the construction of the state, will be of no service. They will become flatterers instead of legislators; the instruments, not the guides, of the people
We must all obey the great law of change. It is the most powerful law of nature
Under the pressure of the cares and sorrows of our mortal condition, men have at all times, and in all countries, called in some physical aid to their moral consolations - wine, beer, opium, brandy, or tobacco
Tyrants seldom want pretexts
To innovate is not to reform
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
Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it
There is a boundary to men's passions when they act from feelings; but none when they are under the influence of imagination
The most important of all revolutions, a revolution in sentiments, manners and moral opinions
The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse
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