Edmund Burke

"The body politic, as well as the human body, begins to die from the moment it is born."

"Every age has its manners; and the manners of ages have much to do with their fortunes."

"True strength consists in virtue and piety."

"I am convinced that we have a degree of delight, and that no small one, in the real misfortunes and pains of others."

"Corruption of the best things produces the worst."

"Poetry is the art of substantiating shadows."

"The grand instructor, Time, teaches all things."

"A disposition to preserve and an ability to improve, taken together, form the character of a true statesman."

"All government, indeed every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue, and every prudent act, is founded on compromise and barter."

"The highest degree of renown fills the mind with pangs unacknowledged before."

"Nothing is so unwise as to reject the accepted opinion of ages."

"Industry is a fortune in itself."

"Nobility is a graceful attribute of the human mind."

"Toleration is good for all, or it is good for none."

"Mere parsimony is not economy—Economy is a distributive virtue and consists in judicious spending."

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

"It is the nature of all greatness not to be exact."

"Despotism can only exist in darkness, and there is a natural inclination in all despotic governments to shut the eyes of the public understanding."

"The trust is sacred. The moment you depart from the principles of faith, honour, and respect towards your sovereign and your country, that moment you lose all weight and influence."

"It is not what a lawyer tells me I may do; but what humanity, reason, and justice tell me I ought to do."

"There may be equality in the graveyard, but there never will be on earth."

"Nothing is terrible except fear itself."

"To love the public, to study universal good, and to promote the interest of the whole world—these are mighty words indeed."

"The true test of civilization is not the census, nor the size of cities, but the kind of man the country turns out."

"In a state of regal splendor, every thing to be done must be done magnificently."

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

"A small group of thoughtful people could change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

"Poetry is the art of substantiating shadows, and of lending pronunciation to the spirit."

"You can never indict a whole people."

"Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire."