661 Quotes by Edmund Burke

All government is founded on compromise and banter.

To innovate is not to reform.

It is one of the finest problems in legislation, what the state ought to take upon itself to direct and what it ought to leave, with as little interference as possible, to individual discretion

People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors.

Man is by his constitution a religious animal.

Rage and frenzy will pull down more in half an hour than prudence, deliberation, and foresight can build up in a hundred years.

It is hard to say whether the doctors of law or divinity have made the greater advances in the lucrative business of mystery.

There ought to be system of manners in every nation which a well-formed mind would be disposed to relish. To make us love our country, our country ought to be lovely.

It ought to be the happiness and glory of a representative to live in the strictest union, the closest correspondence, and the most unreserved communication with his constituents. Their wishes ought to have great weight with him; their opinion, high respect; their business, unremitted attention.