“The hottest fires in hell are reserved for those who remain neutral in times of moral crisis.”
"Those who have been intoxicated with power...can never willingly abandon it."
"Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it."
"History is a pact between the dead, the living, and the yet unborn."
The essence of tyranny is the enforcement of stupid laws."
"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"
"When you fear something, learn as much about it as you can.
"All government, indeed, every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue, and every prudent act, is founded on compromise and barter."
On Moving His Resolutions for Conciliation with the Colonies,"
22 Mar. 1775
“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.”
Speech to electors of Bristol, 3 Nov. 1774
Edmund Burke
(1729–1797)
When I studied politics many years ago, Edmund Burke was one of my favorite political philosophers. As I prepared this quote for my website, I remembered why I was so taken with Burke and his ability to—as I saw it—concisely point out some of the most dangerous threats in the polity. As with most genuinely important thinkers, his words are as true today as they were in 1790.
I've included some of his more quotable quotes here.