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It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.

Edmund Burke

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Edmund Burke
Age: 68 †
Born: 1729
Born: January 12
Died: 1797
Died: July 9
Philosopher
Politician
Statesman
Writer
Dublin city
Things
Minds
Men
Constitution
Eternal
Intemperate
Passion
Forge
Free
Fetters
Cannot
Ordained
Character
Virtuous
Mind
Passions

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Among precautions against ambition, it may not be amiss to take precautions against our own. I must fairly say, I dread our own power and our own ambition: I dread our being too much dreaded.
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Circumspection and caution are part of wisdom.
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To speak of atrocious crime in mild language is treason to virtue.
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I cannot conceive how any man can have brought himself to that pitch of presumption, to consider his country as nothing but carte blanche, upon which he may scribble whatever he pleases.
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Prejudice renders a man's virtue his habit, and a series of unconnected arts. Though just prejudice, his duty becomes a part of his nature.
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There is nothing in the world really beneficial that does not lie within the reach of an informed understanding and a well-protected pursuit.
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Law and arbitrary power are at eternal enmity.
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But a good patriot, and a true politician, always considers how he shall make the most of the existing materials of his country. A disposition, to preserve, and an ability to improve, taken together, would be my standard of a statesman. Everything else is vulgar in the conception, perilous in the execution.
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Vice incapacitates a man from all public duty it withers the powers of his under- standing, and makes his mind paralytic.
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I have never yet seen any plan which has not been mended by the observations of those who were much inferior in understanding to the person who took the lead in the business.
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Equity money is dynamic and debt money is static.
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Teach me, O lark! with thee to greatly rise, to exalt my soul and lift it to the skies.
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It is the nature of all greatness not to be exact.
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The traveller has reached the end of the journey!
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Whenever our neighbour's house is on fire, it cannot be amiss for the engines to play a little on our own.
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