Political Quotes

Edmund Burke: “The jesters and buffoons shame them out of everything grand and elevated.”

On the record
The jesters and buffoons shame them out of everything grand and elevated.
Said by
Edmund Burke

Editor's note · Context

Burke notes that jesters and buffoons can undermine serious and noble pursuits, leading to a loss of dignity.

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Jan 1, 1790

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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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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Not being illuminated with the light of which the gentlemen of France tell us they have got so abundant a share, they acted under a strong impression of the ignorance and fallibility of mankind.

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