Political Quotes

Edmund Burke: He that sets his house on fire because his fingers are frost-bitten can never be a fit instructor in the method of…

On the record
He that sets his house on fire because his fingers are frost-bitten can never be a fit instructor in the method of providing our habitations with a cheerful and salutary warmth.
Said by
Edmund Burke

Editor's note · Context

Burke uses a metaphor to illustrate the folly of destructive actions taken in desperation.

Share

More from Edmund Burke

Jan 1, 1790

Their trust for the future preservation of the Constitution was not in future revolutions.

gutenberg.org
Jan 1, 1790

But the course of succession is the healthy habit of the British Constitution.

gutenberg.org
Jan 1, 1790

A few years ago I should be ashamed to overload a matter so capable of supporting itself by the then unnecessary support of any argument; but this seditious, unconstitutional doctrine is now publicly taught, avowed, and printed.

gutenberg.org
Jan 1, 1790

All your sophisters cannot produce anything better adapted to preserve a rational and manly freedom than the course that we have pursued, who have chosen our nature rather than our speculations, our breasts rather than our inventions, for…

gutenberg.org

Other voices in this conversation