Quote

To give freedom is still more easy. It is not necessary to guide it only requires to let go the rein. But to form a free government that is, to temper together these opposite elements of liberty and restraint in one work, requires much thought, deep reflection, a sagacious, powerful, and combining mind.

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
Much
Thought
Necessary
Temper
Mind
Stills
Deep
Guide
Give
Liberty
Guides
Together
Powerful
Opposite
Sagacious
Still
Freedom
Opposites
Rein
Government
Free
Requires
Reins
Giving
Easy
Reflection
Combining
Work
Form
Elements
Restraint

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Men have no right to put the well-being of the present generation wholly out of the question. Perhaps the only moral trust with any certainty in our hands is the care of our own time.
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The first and simplest emotion which we discover in the human mind, is curiosity.
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Liberty, without wisdom, is license.
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Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it.
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Never, no never, did Nature say one thing, and wisdom another.
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The moment you abate anything from the full rights of men to each govern himself, and suffer any artificial positive limitation upon those rights, from that moment the whole organization of government becomes a consideration of convenience.
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Somebody has said, that a king may make a nobleman but he cannot make a gentleman.
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In all forms of government the people is the true legislator.
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Is it in destroying and pulling down that skill is displayed? The shallowest understanding, the rudest hand, is more than equal to that task.
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Free trade is not based on utility but on justice.
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Flattery corrupts both the receiver and the giver and adulation is not of more service to the people than to kings.
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Expense, and great expense, may be an essential part in true economy. If parsimony were to be considered as one of the kinds of that virtue, there is, however, another and a higher economy. Economy is a distinctive virtue, and consists not in saving, but in selection.
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Passion for fame: A passion which is the instinct of all great souls.
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Some degree of novelty must be one of the materials in almost every instrument which works upon the mind and curiosity blends itself, more or less, with all our pleasures.
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Of this stamp is the cant of, Not men, but measures.
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There is no safety for honest men, but by believing all possible evil of evil men, and by acting with promptitude, decision, and steadiness on that belief.
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Humanity cannot be degraded by humiliation.
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The most favourable laws can do very little towards the happiness of people when the disposition of the ruling power is adverse to them.
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People crushed by law, have no hopes but from power. If laws are their enemies, they will be enemies to laws and those who have much hope and nothing to lose, will always be dangerous.
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The true way to mourn the dead is to take care of the living who belong to them.
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