Among a people generally corrupt, liberty cannot long exist.

— Edmund Burke

A nation without the means of reform is without the means of survival.

— Edmund Burke

An ignorant man, who is not fool enough to meddle with his clock, is however sufficiently confident to think he can safely take to pieces, and put together at his pleasure, a moral machine of another guise, importance and complexity, composed of far other wheels, and springs, and balances, and counteracting and co-operating powers. Men little think how immorally they act in rashly meddling with what they do not understand. Their delusive good intention is no sort of excuse for their presumption. They who truly mean well must be fearful of acting ill.

— Edmund Burke

A representative owes not just his industry but his judgement

— Edmund Burke

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

— Edmund Burke

A very great part of the mischiefs that vex this world arises from words.

— Edmund Burke

Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny.

— Edmund Burke

Beauty in distress is much the most affecting beauty.

— Edmund Burke

Beauty is the promise of happiness.

— Edmund Burke

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

— Edmund Burke