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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.

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
Ambition
Among
Power
Precautions
May
Amiss
Take
Dreaded
Must
Precaution
Much
Dread
Fairly

More quotes by Edmund Burke

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The ocean is an object of no small terror.
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England and Ireland may flourish together. The world is large enough for both of us. Let it be our care not to make ourselves too little for it.
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Religion is essentially the art and the theory of the remaking of man. Man is not a finished creation.
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What is it we all seek for in an election? To answer its real purposes, you must first possess the means of knowing the fitness of your man and then you must retain some hold upon him by personal obligation or dependence.
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Contempt is not a thing to be despised. It may be borne with a calm and equal mind, but no man, by lifting his head high, can pretend that he does not perceive the scorns that are poured down on him from above.
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If the people are happy, united, wealthy, and powerful, we presume the rest. We conclude that to be good from whence good is derived.
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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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Prudence is not only the first in rank of the virtues political and moral, but she is the director and regulator, the standard of them all.
Edmund Burke
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The nerve that never relaxes, the eye that never blanches, the thought that never wanders, the purpose that never wavers - these are the masters of victory.
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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 the one lives by the day, and acts upon expediency the other acts on enduring principles and for the immortality.
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A speculative despair is unpardonable where it our duty to act.
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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.
Edmund Burke
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Passion for fame: A passion which is the instinct of all great souls.
Edmund Burke
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Men who undertake considerable things, even in a regular way, ought to give us ground to presume ability.
Edmund Burke
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And having looked to Government for bread, on the very first scarcity they will turn and bite the hand that fed them.
Edmund Burke
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Power, in whatever hands, is rarely guilty of too strict limitations on itself.
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Responsibility prevents crimes.
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True humility-the basis of the Christian system-is the low but deep and firm foundation of all virtues.
Edmund Burke
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To speak of atrocious crime in mild language is treason to virtue.
Edmund Burke
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It has all the contortions of the sibyl without the inspiration.
Edmund Burke