"There is a boundary to men's passions when they act from feelings; but none when they are under the influence of imagination."

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More quotes from: Edmund Burke

• "A disposition to preserve, and an ability to improve, taken together, would be my standard ..."
• "A people who are still, as it were, but in the gristle, and not yet ..."
• "A State without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation. "
• "All government, indeed every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue, and every prudent act, is ..."
• "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. "
• "Ambition can creep as well as soar. "
• "Among a people generally corrupt liberty cannot long exist. "
• "An event has happened, upon which it is difficult to speak, and impossible to be ..."
• "Applause is the spur of noble minds, the end and aim of weak ones. "
• "Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny. "
• "Beauty is the promise of happiness. "
• "By gnawing through a dike, even a rat may drown a nation. "
• "Circumstances give in reality to every political principle its distinguishing color and discriminating effect. The ..."
• "Custom reconciles us to everything. "
• "Example is the school of mankind, and they will learn at no other. "
• "Falsehood is a perennial spring. "
• "Flattery corrupts both the receiver and the giver. "
• "Frugality is founded on the principal that all riches have limits. "
• "Good order is the foundation of all things. "
• "He had no failings which were not owing to a noble cause; to an ardent, ..."
• "He that struggles with us strengthens our nerves, and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is ..."
• "He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is ..."
• "I have never yet seen any plan which has not been mended by the observations ..."
• "I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards to avenge even a ..."
• "I venture to say no war can be long carried on against the will of ..."
• "If the people are happy, united, wealthy, and powerful, we presume the rest. We conclude ..."
• "If we command our wealth, we shall be rich and free; if our wealth commands ..."
• "If you can be well without health, you may be happy without virtue. "

• "In effect, to follow, not to force the public inclination; to give a direction, a ..."
• "It is a general popular error to suppose the loudest complainers for the public to ..."
• "It is not what a lawyer tells me I may do; but what humanity, reason, ..."
• "It is the nature of all greatness not to be exact. "
• "Kings will be tyrants from policy, when subjects are rebels from principle. "
• "Laws, like houses, lean on one another. "
• "Liberty must be limited in order to be possessed. "
• "Magnanimity in politics is not seldom the truest wisdom; and a great empire and little ..."
• "Manners are of more importance than laws... Manners are what vex or soothe, corrupt or ..."
• "Mere parsimony is not economy. Expense, and great expense, may be an essential part in ..."
• "Never despair, but if you do, work on in despair. "
• "No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning ..."
• "Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only ..."
• "Nothing is so fatal to religion as indifference. "
• "One that confounds good and evil is an enemy to good. "
• "Our patience will achieve more than our force. "
• "Passion for fame: A passion which is the instinct of all great souls. "
• "Patience will achieve more than force. "
• "People crushed by laws, have no hope but to evade power. If the laws are ..."
• "Politics and the pulpit are terms that have little agreement. "
• "Reading without reflecting is like eating without digesting. "
• "Religion is essentially the art and the theory of the remaking of man. Man is ..."
• "Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle which fits them all. "
• "Slavery is a weed that grows on every soil. "
• "Society can overlook murder, adultery or swindling; it never forgives preaching of a new gospel. "
• "Taxing is an easy business. Any projector can contrive new compositions, any bungler can add ..."
• "The effect of liberty to individuals is that they may do what they please: we ..."

• "The most important of all revolutions, a revolution in sentiments, manners and moral opinions. "
• "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do ..."
• "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do ..."
• "The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion. "
• "The person who grieves suffers his passion to grow upon him; he indulges it, he ..."
• "The traveller has reached the end of the journey! "
• "The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedience, and by parts. "
• "There is but one law for all, namely that law which governs all law, the ..."
• "They defend their errors as if they were defending their inheritance. "
• "Those who have been once intoxicated with power, and have derived any kind of emolument ..."
• "To make us love our country, our country ought to be lovely. "
• "To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting. "
• "To tax and to please, no more than to love and to be wise, is ..."
• "Toleration is good for all, or it is good for none. "
• "Tyrants seldom want pretexts. "
• "Under the pressure of the cares and sorrows of our mortal condition, men have at ..."
• "We must all obey the great law of change. It is the most powerful law ..."
• "Well is it known that ambition can creep as well as soar. "
• "What ever disunites man from God, also disunites man from man. "
• "When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, ..."
• "When the leaders choose to make themselves bidders at an auction of popularity, their talents, ..."
• "Whenever a separation is made between liberty and justice, neither, in my opinion, is safe. "
• "Whilst shame keeps its watch, virtue is not wholly extinguished in the heart; nor will ..."
• "You can never plan the future by the past. "
• "Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays instead ..."