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It may be observed, that very polished languages, and such as are praised for their superior clearness and perspicuity, are generally deficient in strength.

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
Language
Praised
May
Polished
Observed
Languages
Superior
Superiors
Generally
Deficient
Strength
Clearness

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An event has happened, upon which it is difficult to speak, and impossible to be silent.
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As the rose-tree is composed of the sweetest flowers and the sharpest thorns, as the heavens are sometimes overcast—alternately tempestuous and serene—so is the life of man intermingled with hopes and fears, with joys and sorrows, with pleasure and pain.
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There ought to be system of manners in every nation which a well-formed mind would be disposed to relish. To make us love our country, our country ought to be lovely.
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The truly sublime is always easy, and always natural.
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Neither the few nor the many have a right to act merely by their will, in any matter connected with duty, trust, engagement, or obligation.
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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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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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Never, no never, did Nature say one thing, and wisdom another.
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It is the nature of all greatness not to be exact.
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It is undoubtedly true, though it may seem paradoxical,--but, in general, those who are habitually employed in finding and displaying faults are unqualified for the work of reformation.
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Freedom and not servitude is the cure of anarchy as religion, and not atheism, is the true remedy of superstition.
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A speculative despair is unpardonable where it our duty to act.
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This sort of people are so taken up with their theories about the rights of man that they have totally forgotten his nature.
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What shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue!
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Guilt was never a rational thing it distorts all the faculties of the human mind, it perverts them, it leaves a man no longer in the free use of his reason, it puts him into confusion.
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Manners are of more importance than laws. Manners are what vex or soothe, corrupt or purify, exalt or debase, barbarize or refine us, by a constant, steady, uniform, insensible operation, like that of the air we breathe.
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Superstition is the religion of feeble minds.
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The question is not whether you have a right to render people miserable, but whether it is not in your best interest to make them happy.
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Pleasure of every kind quickly satisfies.
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By gnawing through a dike, even a rat may drown a nation.
Edmund Burke