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A thing may look specious in theory, and yet be ruinous in practice a thing may look evil in theory, and yet be in practice excellent.

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
Theory
Practice
Evil
May
Look
Looks
Specious
Thing
Ruinous
Excellent

More quotes by Edmund Burke

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An entire life of solitude contradicts the purpose of our being, since death itself is scarcely an idea of more terror.
Edmund Burke
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I would rather sleep in the southern corner of a little country churchyard than in the tomb of the Capulets.
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Dogs are indeed the most social, affectionate, and amiable animals of the whole brute creation.
Edmund Burke
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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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No men can act with effect who do not act in concert no men can act in concert who do not act with confidence no men can act with confidence who are not bound together with common opinions, common affections, and common interests.
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Religion is essentially the art and the theory of the remaking of man. Man is not a finished creation.
Edmund Burke
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But whoever is a genuine follower of Truth, keeps his eye steady upon his guide, indifferent whither he is led, provided that she is the leader.
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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.
Edmund Burke
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A definition may be very exact, and yet go but a very little way towards informing us of the nature of the thing defined.
Edmund Burke
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They never will love where they ought to love, who do not hate where they ought to hate.
Edmund Burke
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No government ought to exist for the purpose of checking the prosperity of its people or to allow such a principle in its policy.
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Power, in whatever hands, is rarely guilty of too strict limitations on itself.
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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.
Edmund Burke
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All that needs to be done for evil to prevail is good men doing nothing.
Edmund Burke
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I am not one of those who think that the people are never in the wrong. They have been so, frequently and outrageously, both in other countries and in this. But I do say that in all disputes between them and their rulers, the presumption is at least upon a par in favour of the people.
Edmund Burke
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The first and simplest emotion which we discover in the human mind, is curiosity.
Edmund Burke
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To speak of atrocious crime in mild language is treason to virtue.
Edmund Burke
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Under the pressure of the cares and sorrows of our mortal condition, men have at all times, and in all countries, called in some physical aid to their moral consolations - wine, beer, opium, brandy, or tobacco.
Edmund Burke
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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.
Edmund Burke
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I have been told by an eminent bookseller, that in no branch of his business , after tracts of popular devotion, were so many books as those on the law exported to the Plantations .
Edmund Burke