Quote

When ancient opinions and rules of life are taken away, the loss cannot possibly be estimated. From that moment, we have no compass to govern us, nor can we know distinctly to what port to steer.

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
Opinion
Port
Taken
Govern
Moment
Compass
Opinions
Away
Possibly
Estimated
Moments
Ancient
Distinctly
Cannot
Rules
Steer
Life
Loss
Steers

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Whilst shame keeps its watch, virtue is not wholly extinguished in the heart nor will moderation be utterly exiled from the minds of tyrants.
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The greatest crimes do not arise from a want of feeling for others but from an over-sensibilit y for ourselves and an over-indulgence to our own desires
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Nothing, indeed, but the possession of some power can with any certainty discover what at the bottom is the true character of any man.
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It is an advantage to all narrow wisdom and narrow morals that their maxims have a plausible air and, on a cursory view, appear equal to first principles. They are light and portable. They are as current as copper coin and about as valuable.
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Superstition is the religion of feeble minds.
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Though ugliness be the opposite of beauty, it is not the opposite to proportion and fitness for it is possible that a thing may be very ugly with any proportions, and with a perfect fitness for any use.
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He who calls in the aid of an equal understanding doubles his own and he who profits by a superior understanding raises his powers to a level with the height of the superior standing he unites with.
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What shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue!
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Those who have been once intoxicated with power, and have derived any kind of emolument from it, even though but for one year, never can willingly abandon it. They may be distressed in the midst of all their power but they will never look to anything but power for their relief.
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The love of lucre, though sometimes carried to a ridiculous excess, a vicious excess, is the grand cause of prosperity to all States.
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In all forms of government the people is the true legislator.
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It is, generally, in the season of prosperity that men discover their real temper, principles, and designs.
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For my part, I am convinced that the method of teaching which approaches most nearly to the method of investigation is incomparably the best since, not content with serving up a few barren and lifeless truths, it leads to the stock on which they grew.
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Dogs are indeed the most social, affectionate, and amiable animals of the whole brute creation.
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Whenever a separation is made between liberty and justice, neither, in my opinion, is safe.
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Circumstances give in reality to every political principle its distinguishing color and discriminating effect. The circumstances are what render every civil and political scheme beneficial or noxious to mankind.
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Curiosity is the most superficial of all the affections it changes its object perpetually it has an appetite which is very sharp, but very easily satisfied, and it has always an appearance of giddiness, restlessness and anxiety.
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By gnawing through a dike, even a rat may drown a nation.
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The most important of all revolutions, a revolution in sentiments, manners and moral opinions.
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Fiction lags after truth, invention is unfruitful, and imagination cold and barren.
Edmund Burke