Edmund Burke 1729 – 1797
Edmund Burke (1729 – 1797) was an Irish philosopher of the Modern era, associated with Enlightenment and Political Philosophy.
Edmund Burke was an Irish-born British statesman and political philosopher, often regarded as the founder of modern conservatism. As a member of Parliament he supported conciliation with the American colonies and the impeachment of Warren Hastings, but he is best remembered for his Reflections on the Revolution in France, a sustained polemic against revolutionary abstractions and in defense of inherited tradition, prudence, and the partnership of the generations. His political thought has shaped conservative argument on both sides of the Atlantic for more than two centuries.
Edmund Burke (1729–1797) was an Irish-born British political philosopher and statesman and the founding figure of modern philosophical conservatism. Born in Dublin and educated at Trinity College, he moved to London in 1750 and entered Parliament in 1765, where he served for almost three decades, supporting reform of British administration in the American colonies, in India, and in Ireland.
Burke's two most influential philosophical works are A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful (1757), which shaped subsequent eighteenth-century aesthetics and influenced Kant's account of the sublime, and Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), which reshaped the political vocabulary of the English-speaking world. The Reflections argues against the abstract philosophical principles of the French revolutionaries and for the slow accumulation of inherited institutions, prudent reform, and the wisdom embedded in the long history of a political community.
Burke's earlier political career — supporting American grievances against George III's government, leading the parliamentary impeachment of Warren Hastings for misconduct in India, defending Catholic emancipation in Ireland — was that of a moderate reformer. His late opposition to the French Revolution placed him among its most influential philosophical critics. Mary Wollstonecraft's reply to the Reflections, A Vindication of the Rights of Men, was the first of many. Burke remains the canonical philosophical reference for Anglo-American conservatism.
Key facts
- Nationality
- Irish
- Era
- Modern
- Movements
- Enlightenment, Political Philosophy
Selected quotes
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“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
When bad men combine , the good must associate ; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle . It is not enough in a situation of trust in the commonwealth, that a man means well to his country ; it is not enough that in his single person he never did an evil act , but always voted according to his conscience , and even harangued against every design which he a -
Attributed to Edmund Burke:
“Society is indeed a contract, between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born.”
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“People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors.”
Volume iii, p. 274 -
Attributed to Edmund Burke:
“Liberty too must be limited in order to be possessed.”
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“Custom reconciles us to everything.”
Part IV Section XVIII
Edmund Burke by topic
Frequently asked about Edmund Burke
- When did Edmund Burke live?
- Edmund Burke was born in 1729 and died in 1797.
- Where was Edmund Burke from?
- Edmund Burke was an Irish philosopher of the Modern era.
- What philosophical movements is Edmund Burke associated with?
- Edmund Burke was associated with Enlightenment and Political Philosophy.
- What was Edmund Burke known for?
- Edmund Burke was an Irish-born British statesman and political philosopher, often regarded as the founder of modern conservatism.
- How many quotes are attributed to Edmund Burke?
- There are 47 attributed quotations from Edmund Burke in the 1001Philosophers collection, organized by topic.
Quotes that are not actually from Edmund Burke
These lines are widely circulated as Edmund Burke, but they do not appear in Edmund Burke's works. Each entry below identifies the actual source.
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“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: This is probably the most quoted statement attributed to Burke, and an extraordinary number of variants of it exist, but all without any definite original source. They closely resemble remarks known to have been made by the Utilitarian philosopher John Stuart Mill , in an address at the University o
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“Applause is the spur of noble minds, the end and aim of weak ones.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: Not found in Burke's writings. It was almost certainly first published in Charles Caleb Colton 's Lacon (1820), vol. 1, no. 324
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“Beauty is the promise of happiness.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: Actually by Stendhal : "La beauté n'est que la promesse du bonheur" (Beauty is no more than the promise of happiness), in De L'Amour (1822), chapter 17
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“If it is not necessary to change, it is necessary not to change.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but the actual source is Lucius Cary. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: Attributed to Benjamin Disraeli , to William Gerard Hamilton , to George Bernard Shaw , to John F. Kennedy (who at any rate quoted it) and to Edmund Burke, it was actually said by Lucius Cary, 2nd Viscount Falkland in a speech in the House of Commons on 1641-11-22
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“If you can be well without health, you may be happy without virtue.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: First known in Thomas Fuller 's Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs (1732), but not found in the writings of Edmund Burke.
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“Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle which fits them all.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: Not Burke but Oliver Wendell Holmes in The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table (1858).
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“Society can overlook murder, adultery or swindling — it never forgives the preaching of a new gospel.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: Actually from Frederic Harrison 's essay "Ruskin as Prophet", in his Tennyson, Ruskin, Mill, and Other Literary Estimates (1899).
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“Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: Not found in Burke's writings. Appears to be a paraphrase of "It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do little." sourced to Sydney Smith (1771 - 1845).
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“Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
Santayana wrote in The Life of Reason (1905): 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.' The popular reformulation as 'those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it' compresses and slightly alters Santayana's wording. The line is also frequently misattributed to Edmund Burke and Winston Churchill, neither of whom wrote it.