Friday, March 05, 2004
Edmund Burke - a man for our times
I was asked by a colleague to compile a list of quotable quotes this week, and in the hunt came across the work of Edmund Burke. If you are not a student of political science, you most likely would ask, "Edmund who???" It's a sad commentary on our times that his writings are not studied more widely.
Edmund Burke was an 18th Century statesman, orator and parliamentarian, whose words still reverbrate today. His understanding of democracy and the nature of true freedom is sublime. In fact, if I can mix metaphors, his wisdom cuts through today's postmodern muddle like a fine wine on a dull palate. Like so many of our best orators, he was born in Ireland. He moved to England, and after he entered parliament in the late 1700s, he had a profound influence on the development of constitutional thinking. Two of his outstanding works were Observations on the Present State of the Nation, and Reflections on the Revolution in France, a series of letters to a young French correspondent.
Burke's most famous quote is: "All it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing."
Here are some sample quotes (more can be found here):
~ Those who have been once intoxicated with power, and have derived any kind of emolument from it, even though but for one year, never can willingly abandon it. They may be distressed in the midst of all their power; but they will never look to anything but power for their relief.
~ I have never yet seen any plan which has not been mended by the observations of those who were much inferior in understanding to the person who took the lead in the business.
~ It is a general popular error to suppose the loudest complainers for the public to be the most anxious for its welfare.
~ Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.
~ Manners are of more importance than laws... Manners are what vex or soothe, corrupt or purify, exalt or debase, barbarize or refine us, by a constant, steady, uniform, insensible operation, like that of the air we breathe in.
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 must to hope and nothing to lose will always be dangerous.
~ The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion.
~ The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedience, and by parts.
~ When the leaders choose to make themselves bidders at an auction of popularity, their talents, in the construction of the state, will be of no service. They will become flatterers instead of legislators; the instruments, not the guides, of the people.
~ Among a people generally corrupt liberty cannot long exist.
I was asked by a colleague to compile a list of quotable quotes this week, and in the hunt came across the work of Edmund Burke. If you are not a student of political science, you most likely would ask, "Edmund who???" It's a sad commentary on our times that his writings are not studied more widely.
Edmund Burke was an 18th Century statesman, orator and parliamentarian, whose words still reverbrate today. His understanding of democracy and the nature of true freedom is sublime. In fact, if I can mix metaphors, his wisdom cuts through today's postmodern muddle like a fine wine on a dull palate. Like so many of our best orators, he was born in Ireland. He moved to England, and after he entered parliament in the late 1700s, he had a profound influence on the development of constitutional thinking. Two of his outstanding works were Observations on the Present State of the Nation, and Reflections on the Revolution in France, a series of letters to a young French correspondent.
Burke's most famous quote is: "All it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing."
Here are some sample quotes (more can be found here):
~ Those who have been once intoxicated with power, and have derived any kind of emolument from it, even though but for one year, never can willingly abandon it. They may be distressed in the midst of all their power; but they will never look to anything but power for their relief.
~ I have never yet seen any plan which has not been mended by the observations of those who were much inferior in understanding to the person who took the lead in the business.
~ It is a general popular error to suppose the loudest complainers for the public to be the most anxious for its welfare.
~ Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.
~ Manners are of more importance than laws... Manners are what vex or soothe, corrupt or purify, exalt or debase, barbarize or refine us, by a constant, steady, uniform, insensible operation, like that of the air we breathe in.
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 must to hope and nothing to lose will always be dangerous.
~ The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion.
~ The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedience, and by parts.
~ When the leaders choose to make themselves bidders at an auction of popularity, their talents, in the construction of the state, will be of no service. They will become flatterers instead of legislators; the instruments, not the guides, of the people.
~ Among a people generally corrupt liberty cannot long exist.
