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Those who quit their proper character to assume what does not belong to them are, for the greater part, ignorant both of the character they leave and of the character they assume.

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
Leave
Greater
Quit
Part
Assume
Doe
Quitting
Character
Proper
Belong
Assuming
Ignorant

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All the forces of darkness need to succeed ... is for the people to do nothing.
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History consists, for the greater part, of the miseries brought upon the world by pride, ambition, avarice, revenge, lust, sedition, hypocrisy, ungoverned zeal, and all the train of disorderly appetite.
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Evil prevails when good men fail to act.
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To innovate is not to reform.
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Vice itself lost half its evil, by losing all its grossness.
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There was an ancient Roman lawyer, of great fame in the history of Roman jurisprudence, whom they called Cui Bono, from his having first introduced into judicial proceedings the argument, What end or object could the party have had in the act with which he is accused.
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Man is an animal that cooks his victuals.
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To give freedom is still more easy. It is not necessary to guide it only requires to let go the rein. But to form a free government that is, to temper together these opposite elements of liberty and restraint in one work, requires much thought, deep reflection, a sagacious, powerful, and combining mind.
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Somebody has said, that a king may make a nobleman but he cannot make a gentleman.
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No man can mortgage his injustice as a pawn for his fidelity.
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Religion is among the most powerful causes of enthusiasm.
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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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Circumspection and caution are part of wisdom.
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All virtue which is impracticable is spurious.
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Unsociable humors are contracted in solitude, which will, in the end, not fail of corrupting the understanding as well as the manners, and of utterly disqualifying a man for the satisfactions and duties of life. Men must be taken as they are, and we neither make them or ourselves better by flying from or quarreling with them.
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Ambition can creep as well as soar.
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The worthy gentleman who has been snatched from us at the moment of the election, and in the middle of the contest, whilst his desires were as warm and his hopes as eager as ours, has feelingly told us what shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue.
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Early and provident fear is the mother of safety.
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If we command our wealth, we shall be rich and free if our wealth commands us, we are poor indeed.
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