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To complain of the age we live in, to murmur at the present possessors of power, to lament the past, to conceive extravagant hopes of the future, are the common dispositions of the greatest part of mankind.

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
Future
Complain
Past
Hopes
Possessors
Part
Complaining
Murmur
Power
Mankind
Dispositions
Live
Present
Lament
Greatest
Extravagant
Age
Conceive
Common
Disposition

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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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Power, in whatever hands, is rarely guilty of too strict limitations on itself.
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The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse.
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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.
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Parliament is a deliberate assembly of one nation, with one interest, that of the whole where, not local purpose, not local prejudices ought to guide but the general good, resulting from the general reason of the whole.
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Dogs are indeed the most social, affectionate, and amiable animals of the whole brute creation.
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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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I despair of ever receiving the same degree of pleasure from the most exalted performances of genius which I felt in childhood from pieces which my present judgment regards as trifling and contemptible.
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Nobility is a graceful ornament to the civil order. It is the Corinthian capital of polished society.
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Adversity is a severe instructor, set over us by one who knows us better than we do ourselves.
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Fellowship in treason is a bad ground of confidence.
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It is the nature of tyranny and rapacity never to learn moderation from the ill-success of first oppressions on the contrary, all oppressors, all men thinking highly of the methods dictated by their nature, attribute the frustration of their desires to the want of sufficient rigor.
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The very name of a politician, a statesman, is sure to cause terror and hatred it has always connected with it the ideas of treachery, cruelty, fraud, and tyranny.
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I venture to say no war can be long carried on against the will of the people.
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The people of England well know that the idea of inheritance furnishes a sure principle of conservation and a sure principle of transmission, without at all excluding a principle of improvement.
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Ambition can creep as well as soar.
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By gnawing through a dike, even a rat may drown a nation.
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Somebody has said, that a king may make a nobleman but he cannot make a gentleman.
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The superfluities of a rich nation furnish a better object of trade than the necessities of a poor one. It is the interest of the commercial world that wealth should be found everywhere.
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