Edmund Burke

“Education is the cheap defense of nations.”

“But the age of chivalry is gone. That of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded; and the glory of Europe is extinguished forever.”

“If we command our wealth, we shall be rich and free; if our wealth commands us, we are poor indeed.”

“It is the interest of the commercial world that wealth should be found everywhere.”

“If the people are happy, united, wealthy, and powerful, we presume the rest. We conclude that to be good from whence good is derived.”

“The effect of liberty to individuals is that they may do what they please: we ought to see what it will please them to do, before we risk congratulations.”

“A State without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation.”

“It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.”

“Among a people generally corrupt liberty cannot long exist.”

“Flattery corrupts both the receiver and the giver.”

“There is but one law for all, namely that law which governs all law, the law of our Creator, the law of humanity, justice, equity - the law of nature and of nations.”

“In a democracy, the majority of the citizens is capable of exercising the most cruel oppressions upon the minority.”

“People crushed by laws, have no hope but to evade power. If the laws are their enemies, they will be enemies to the law; and those who have most to hope and nothing to lose will always be da...”

“The first and simplest emotion which we discover in the human mind, is curiosity.”

“Custom reconciles us to everything.”

“The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion.”

“It is, generally, in the season of prosperity that men discover their real temper, principles, and designs.”

“A disposition to preserve, and an ability to improve, taken together, would be my standard of a statesman.”

“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...”

“By gnawing through a dike, even a rat may drown a nation.”