Edmund Burke
Irish-born British statesman and political philosopher (1729 to 1797); author of Reflections on the Revolution in France.
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What they believe
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Circumstances, not abstract principles, make a political scheme good or harmful
Circumstances (which with some gentlemen pass for nothing) give in reality to every political principle its distinguishing color and discriminating effect.
gutenberg.orgSaid c. 1790This on korrents
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Britain should seek simple peace with the colonies, not peace through war or legal disputes
The proposition is peace. Not peace through the medium of war; not peace to be hunted through the labyrinth of intricate and endless negotiations; not peace to arise out of universal discord fomented, from principle, in all parts of the Empire, not peace to depend on the juridical determination of perplexing questions, or the precise marking the shadowy boundaries of a complex government. It is simple peace; sought in its natural course, and in its ordinary haunts.
gutenberg.orgSaid 22 Mar 1775This on korrents
The bold line is korrents’ wording; the quote is theirs. These 2: what they wrote before what they said aloud, one per source, newest first.
Beliefs
Korrents What they believe 39 beliefs — each backed by an exact quote.
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Circumstances, not abstract principles, make a political scheme good or harmful
Circumstances (which with some gentlemen pass for nothing) give in reality to every political principle its distinguishing color and discriminating effect.
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) Said c. 1790
A state that cannot change cannot preserve itself
A state without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation.
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) Said c. 1790
A spirit of innovation generally comes from a selfish temper and narrow views
This policy appears to me to be the result of profound reflection,—or rather the happy effect of following Nature, which is wisdom without reflection, and above it. A spirit of innovation is generally the result of a selfish temper and confined views.
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) Said c. 1790
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Loving the small group we belong to is the first step towards loving our country and mankind
To be attached to the subdivision, to love the little platoon we belong to in society, is the first principle (the germ, as it were) of public affections. It is the first link in the series by which we proceed towards a love to our country and to mankind.
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) Said c. 1790
Those who try to level society never make it equal, since some group must be on top
Believe me, Sir, those who attempt to level never equalize. In all societies consisting of various descriptions of citizens, some description must be uppermost.
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) Said c. 1790
Property by its very nature is unequal
The characteristic essence of property, formed out of the combined principles of its acquisition and conservation, is to be unequal.
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) Said c. 1790
In society all have equal rights, but not to equal things
In this partnership all men have equal rights; but not to equal things.
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) Said c. 1790
A share in governing the state is not an original natural right but a matter of convention
And as to the share of power, authority, and direction which each individual ought to have in the management of the state, that I must deny to be amongst the direct original rights of man in civil society; for I have in my contemplation the civil social man, and no other. It is a thing to be settled by convention.
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) Said c. 1790
The abstract perfection of natural rights is their practical defect
Government is not made in virtue of natural rights, which may and do exist in total independence of it,—and exist in much greater clearness, and in a much greater degree of abstract perfection: but their abstract perfection is their practical defect. By having a right to everything they want everything.
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) Said c. 1790
The age of chivalry is gone and the glory of Europe is extinguished
But the age of chivalry is gone. That of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded; and the glory of Europe is extinguished forever.
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) Said c. 1790
When subjects rebel from principle, kings become tyrants from policy
Kings will be tyrants from policy, when subjects are rebels from principle.
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) Said c. 1790
Prejudices should be cherished because individual reason is small
We are afraid to put men to live and trade each on his own private stock of reason; because we suspect that the stock in each man is small, and that the individuals would do better to avail themselves of the general bank and capital of nations and of ages.
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) Said c. 1790
Just prejudice makes virtue a habit and duty part of a person's nature
Prejudice renders a man's virtue his habit, and not a series of unconnected acts. Through just prejudice, his duty becomes a part of his nature.
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) Said c. 1790
Religion is the basis of civil society and the source of all good
We know, and, what is better, we feel inwardly, that religion is the basis of civil society, and the source of all good, and of all comfort.
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) Said c. 1790
Humans are religious by nature and atheism cannot prevail long
We know, and it is our pride to know, that man is by his constitution a religious animal; that atheism is against, not only our reason, but our instincts; and that it cannot prevail long.
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) Said c. 1790
A perfect democracy is the most shameless thing in the world
A perfect democracy is therefore the most shameless thing in the world. As it is the most shameless, it is also the most fearless.
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) Said c. 1790
In a democracy the majority can oppress the minority more cruelly than a single ruler
Of this I am certain, that in a democracy the majority of the citizens is capable of exercising the most cruel oppressions upon the minority, whenever strong divisions prevail in that kind of polity, as they often must,—and that oppression of the minority will extend to far greater numbers, and will be carried on with much greater fury, than can almost ever be apprehended from the dominion of a single sceptre.
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) Said c. 1790
The state is a partnership between the living, the dead and those yet to be born
As the ends of such a partnership cannot be obtained in many generations, it becomes a partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born.
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) Said c. 1790
A disposition to preserve and an ability to improve make a good statesman
A disposition to preserve, and an ability to improve, taken together, would be my standard of a statesman. Everything else is vulgar in the conception, perilous in the execution.
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) Said c. 1790
Rage can destroy in half an hour what prudence takes a hundred years to build
Rage and frenzy will pull down more in half an hour than prudence, deliberation, and foresight can build up in a hundred years.
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) Said c. 1790
The National Assembly's confiscation of Church property was dishonest and cruel
I am not afraid that I shall be disavowed, when I assure you that there is not one public man in this kingdom, whom you wish to quote,—no, not one, of any party or description,—who does not reprobate the dishonest, perfidious, and cruel confiscation which the National Assembly has been compelled to make of that property which it was their first duty to protect.
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) Said c. 1790
Britain should seek simple peace with the colonies, not peace through war or legal disputes
The proposition is peace. Not peace through the medium of war; not peace to be hunted through the labyrinth of intricate and endless negotiations; not peace to arise out of universal discord fomented, from principle, in all parts of the Empire, not peace to depend on the juridical determination of perplexing questions, or the precise marking the shadowy boundaries of a complex government. It is simple peace; sought in its natural course, and in its ordinary haunts.
Speech on Conciliation with America (22 March 1775) Said 22 Mar 1775
A clearly superior power can offer peace without losing honor or safety
Great and acknowledged force is not impaired, either in effect or in opinion, by an unwillingness to exert itself. The superior power may offer peace with honor and with safety.
Speech on Conciliation with America (22 March 1775) Said 22 Mar 1775
Force is a feeble instrument for keeping a numerous, spirited people connected
But I confess, possibly for want of this knowledge, my opinion is much more in favor of prudent management than of force; considering force not as an odious, but a feeble instrument for preserving a people so numerous, so active, so growing, so spirited as this, in a profitable and subordinate connection with us.
Speech on Conciliation with America (22 March 1775) Said 22 Mar 1775
Force used alone can only ever be a temporary remedy
First, Sir, permit me to observe that the use of force alone is but temporary.
Speech on Conciliation with America (22 March 1775) Said 22 Mar 1775
Force is uncertain, and if it fails no hope of reconciliation remains
My next objection is its uncertainty. Terror is not always the effect of force, and an armament is not a victory. If you do not succeed, you are without resource; for, conciliation failing, force remains; but, force failing, no further hope of reconciliation is left.
Speech on Conciliation with America (22 March 1775) Said 22 Mar 1775
Fighting to keep something damages the very thing being fought for
A further objection to force is, that you impair the object by your very endeavors to preserve it. The thing you fought for is not the thing which you recover; but depreciated, sunk, wasted, and consumed in the contest.
Speech on Conciliation with America (22 March 1775) Said 22 Mar 1775
A love of freedom is the defining trait of the American colonists
In this character of the Americans, a love of freedom is the predominating feature which marks and distinguishes the whole; and as an ardent is always a jealous affection, your Colonies become suspicious, restive, and untractable whenever they see the least attempt to wrest from them by force, or shuffle from them by chicane, what they think the only advantage worth living for.
Speech on Conciliation with America (22 March 1775) Said 22 Mar 1775
Liberty never exists in the abstract but attaches to something concrete
Abstract liberty, like other mere abstractions, is not to be found. Liberty inheres in some sensible object; and every nation has formed to itself some favorite point, which by way of eminence becomes the criterion of their happiness.
Speech on Conciliation with America (22 March 1775) Said 22 Mar 1775
The colonists' dissenting Protestantism is built on liberty
The people are Protestants; and of that kind which is the most adverse to all implicit submission of mind and opinion. This is a persuasion not only favorable to liberty, but built upon it.
Speech on Conciliation with America (22 March 1775) Said 22 Mar 1775
Legal education makes Americans resist bad principles before any actual grievance
In other countries, the people, more simple, and of a less mercurial cast, judge of an ill principle in government only by an actual grievance; here they anticipate the evil, and judge of the pressure of the grievance by the badness of the principle. They augur misgovernment at a distance, and snuff the approach of tyranny in every tainted breeze.
Speech on Conciliation with America (22 March 1775) Said 22 Mar 1775
Great distance inevitably weakens the government of a far-off colony
Three thousand miles of ocean lie between you and them. No contrivance can prevent the effect of this distance in weakening government.
Speech on Conciliation with America (22 March 1775) Said 22 Mar 1775
Arguing against American liberty forces Britain to undermine its own freedom
To prove that the Americans ought not to be free, we are obliged to depreciate the value of freedom itself; and we never seem to gain a paltry advantage over them in debate without attacking some of those principles, or deriding some of those feelings, for which our ancestors have shed their blood.
Speech on Conciliation with America (22 March 1775) Said 22 Mar 1775
An Englishman cannot credibly argue another Englishman into slavery
An Englishman is the unfittest person on earth to argue another Englishman into slavery.
Speech on Conciliation with America (22 March 1775) Said 22 Mar 1775
Applying criminal justice to a whole people's quarrel is narrow and pedantic
It looks to me to be narrow and pedantic to apply the ordinary ideas of criminal justice to this great public contest. I do not know the method of drawing up an indictment against a whole people.
Speech on Conciliation with America (22 March 1775) Said 22 Mar 1775
Policy should follow what humanity and justice require, not legal right
It is not what a lawyer tells me I MAY do, but what humanity, reason, and justice tell me I OUGHT to do. Is a politic act the worse for being a generous one?
Speech on Conciliation with America (22 March 1775) Said 22 Mar 1775
A people's character and situation must determine what government fits them
I am not determining a point of law, I am restoring tranquillity; and the general character and situation of a people must determine what sort of government is fitted for them. That point nothing else can or ought to determine.
Speech on Conciliation with America (22 March 1775) Said 22 Mar 1775
All government and every prudent act rests on compromise
All government, indeed every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue, and every prudent act, is founded on compromise and barter. We balance inconveniences; we give and take; we remit some rights, that we may enjoy others; and we choose rather to be happy citizens than subtle disputants.
Speech on Conciliation with America (22 March 1775) Said 22 Mar 1775
The colonies are best held by shared names, blood, privileges and protection
My hold of the Colonies is in the close affection which grows from common names, from kindred blood, from similar privileges, and equal protection.
Speech on Conciliation with America (22 March 1775) Said 22 Mar 1775
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