Political Quotes

Edmund Burke: “What a number of faults have led to this multitude of misfortunes, and almost all from this one source,--that of…”

On the record
What a number of faults have led to this multitude of misfortunes, and almost all from this one source,--that of considering certain general maxims, without attending to circumstances, to times, to places, to conjunctures, and to actors!
Said by
Edmund Burke

Editor's note · Context

Burke reflects on the dangers of applying general principles without considering specific circumstances in governance.

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Jan 1, 1790

Let us add, if we please, but let us preserve what they have left; and standing on the firm ground of the British Constitution, let us be satisfied to admire, rather than attempt to follow in their desperate flights, the aëronauts of…

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They come from one who has been no tool of power, no flatterer of greatness, and who in his last acts does not wish to belie the tenor of his life.

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The improvements of the National Assembly are superficial, their errors fundamental.

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Jan 1, 1790

I think our happy situation owing to our Constitution,--but owing to the whole of it, and not to any part singly,--owing in a great measure to what we have left standing in our several reviews and reformations, as well as to what we have…

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