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It is by imitation, far more than by precept, that we learn everything and what we learn thus, we acquire not only more effectually, but more pleasantly.

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
Pleasantly
Precept
Imitation
Acquire
Thus
Learn
Everything
Effectually

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The great inlet by which a colour for oppression has entered into the world is by one man's pretending to determine concerning the happiness of another.
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In a democracy, the majority of the citizens is capable of exercising the most cruel oppressions upon the minority.
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It is the function of a judge not to make but to declare the law, according to the golden mete-wand of the law and not by the crooked cord of discretion.
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Of this stamp is the cant of, Not men, but measures.
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A jealous lover lights his torch from the firebrand of the fiend.
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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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The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedience, and by parts.
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Evil prevails when good men fail to act.
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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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The ocean is an object of no small terror.
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The only training for the heroic is the mundane.
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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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Pleasure of every kind quickly satisfies.
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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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There are circumstances in which despair does not imply inactivity.
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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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In effect, to follow, not to force the public inclination to give a direction, a form, a technical dress, and a specific sanction, to the general sense of the community, is the true end of legislature.
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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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The science of constructing a commonwealth, or renovating it, or reforming it, is, like every other experimental science, not to be taught a priori. Nor is it a short experience that can instruct us in that practical science, because the real effects of moral causes are not always immediate.
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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.
Edmund Burke