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Whatever Is Fitted In Any Sort To Excite The Ideas Of Pain And Danger, That Is To Say, Whatever Is In Any Sort Terrible, Or Is Conversant About Terrible Objects, Or Operates In A Manner Analogous To Terror, Is A Source Of The Sublime; That Is, It Is Productive Of The Strongest Emotion Which The Mind Is Capable Of Feeling... When Danger Or Pain Press Too Nearly, They Are Incapable Of Giving Any Delight, And Are Simply Terrible; But At Certain Distances, And With Certain Modifications, They May Be, And They Are, Delightful, As We Every Day Experience.

-Edmund Burke

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Whatever Is Fitted In

Edmund Burke

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Whatever Is Fitted In Any Sort To Excite The Ideas Of Pain And Danger, That Is To Say, Whatever Is In Any Sort Terrible, Or Is Conversant About Terrible Objects, Or Operates In A Manner Analogous To Terror, Is A Source Of The Sublime; That Is, It Is Productive Of The Strongest Emotion Which The Mind Is Capable Of Feeling... When Danger Or Pain Press Too Nearly, They Are Incapable Of Giving Any Delight, And Are Simply Terrible; But At Certain Distances, And With Certain Modifications, They May Be, And They Are, Delightful, As We Every Day Experience.

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There Was An Ancient Roman Lawyer, Of Great Fame In The History Of Roman Jurisprudence, Whom They Called Cui Bono, From His Having First Introduced Into Judicial Proceedings The Argument, "what End Or Object Could The Party Have Had In The Act With Which He Is Accused."

Men Are Qualified For Civil Liberty In Exact Proportion To Their Disposition To Put Moral Chains Upon Their Own Appetites.

Nothing Less Will Content Me, Than Wholeamerica.

If Any Ask Me What A Free Government Is, I Answer, That, For Any Practical Purpose, It Is What The People Think So,and That They, And Not I, Are The Natural, Lawful, And Competent Judges Of This Matter.

Our Manners, Our Civilization, And All The Good Things Connected With Manners And Civilization, Have, In This European World Of Ours, Depended For Ages Upon Two Principles: I Mean The Spirit Of A Gentleman, And The Spirit Of Religion.

Politics And The Pulpit Are Terms That Have Little Agreement.

I Cannot Conceive How Any Man Can Have Brought Himself To That Pitch Of Presumption, To Consider His Country As Nothing But Carte Blanche, Upon Which He May Scribble Whatever He Pleases.

My Vigour Relents. I Pardon Something To The Spirit Of Liberty.

You Will Not Think It Unnatural That Those Who Have An Object Depending, Which Strongly Engages Their Hopes And Fears, Should Be Somewhat Inclining To Superstition.

It Is The Interest Of The Commercial World That Wealth Should Be Found Everywhere.

People Must Be Taken As They Are, And We Should Never Try Make Them Or Ourselves Better By Quarreling With Them.

The Truly Sublime Is Always Easy, And Always Natural.

There Are Circumstances In Which Despair Does Not Imply Inactivity.

Custom Reconciles Us To Everything.

A State Without The Means Of Some Change Is Without The Means Of Its Conservation.

Ambition Can Creep As Well As Soar.

A People Who Are Still, As It Were, But In The Gristle, And Not Yet Hardened Into The Bone Of Manhood.

If The People Are Happy, United, Wealthy, And Powerful, We Presume The Rest. We Conclude That To Be Good From Whence Good Is Derived.

There Are Three Estates In Parliament But In The Reporters' Gallery Yonder There Sits A Fourth Estate More Important Far Than They All. It Is Not A Figure Of Speech Or Witty Saying, It Is A Literal Fact, Very Momentous To Us In These Times.

The Great Inlet By Which A Colour For Oppression Has Entered Into The World Is By One Man's Pretending To Determine Concerning The Happiness Of Another.

What Ever Disunites Man From God, Also Disunites Man From Man.

England And Ireland May Flourish Together. The World Is Large Enough For Both Of Us. Let It Be Our Care Not To Make Ourselves Too Little For It.

The Grand Instructor, Time.

To Be Attached To The Subdivision, To Love The Little Platoon We Belong To In Society, Is The First Principle (the Germ As It Were) Of Public Affections. It Is The First Link In The Series By Which We Proceed Toward A Love To Our Country And To Mankind. The Interest Of That Portion Of Social Arrangement Is A Trust In The Hands Of All Those Who Compose It; And As None But Bad Men Would Justify It In Abuse, None But Traitors Would Barter It Away For Their Own Personal Advantage.

You Had That Action And Counteraction Which, In The Natural And In The Political World, From The Reciprocal Struggle Of Discordant Powers Draws Out The Harmony Of The Universe.

A Great Deal Of The Furniture Of Ancient Tyranny Is Torn To Rags; The Rest Is Entirely Out Of Fashion.

All That Is Necessary For Evil To Succeed Is For Good Men To Do Nothing As They Must If They Believe They Can Do Nothing. There Is Nothing Worse Because The Council Of Despair Is Declaration Of Irresponsibility; It Is Pilate Washing His Hands.

Men Love To Hear Of Their Power, But Have An Extreme Disrelish To Be Told Their Duty.

I Do Not Know The Method Of Drawing Up An Indictment Against A Whole People.

Turn Over A New Leaf.

To Drive Men From Independence To Live On Alms, Is Itself Great Cruelty.

By Hating Vices Too Much, They Come To Love Men Too Little.

Old Religious Factions Are Volcanoes Burned Out; On The Lava And Ashes And Squalid Scoriae Of Old Eruptions Grow The Peaceful Olive, The Cheering Vine And The Sustaining Corn.

The Effect Of Liberty To Individuals Is That They May Do What They Please: We Ought To See What It Will Please Them To Do, Before We Risk Congratulations.

Congratulations

The Pride Of Men Will Not Often Suffer Reason To Have Scope Until It Can Be No Longer Of Service.

Depend Upon It That The Lovers Of Freedom Will Be Free.

I Venture To Say No War Can Be Long Carried On Against The Will Of The People.

It Is Not What A Lawyer Tells Me I May Do; But What Humanity, Reason, And Justice Tell Me I Ought To Do.

The Greatest Crimes Do Not Arise From A Want Of Feeling For Others But From An Over-sensibilit Y For Ourselves And An Over-indulgence To Our Own Desires

Education Is A Nation's Cheapest Defence

Reflect How You Are To Govern A People Who Think They Ought To Be Free, And Think They Are Not. Your Scheme Yields No Revenue; It Yields Nothing But Discontent, Disorder, Disobedience; And Such Is The State Of America, That After Wading Through Up To Your Eyes In Blood, You Could Only End Up Where You Begun; That Is, To Tax Where No Revenue Is To Be Found... All Is Confusion Beyond It.

Bad Laws Are The Worst Sort Of Tyranny.

The Person Who Grieves Suffers His Passion To Grow Upon Him; He Indulges It, He Loves It; But This Never Happens In The Case Of Actual Pain, Which No Man Ever Willingly Endured For Any Considerable Time.

The Yielding Of The Weak Is The Concession To Fear.

For My Part, I Am Convinced That The Method Of Teaching Which Approaches Most Nearly To The Method Of Investigation Is Incomparably The Best; Since, Not Content With Serving Up A Few Barren And Lifeless Truths, It Leads To The Stock On Which They Grew.

I Decline The Election. It Has Ever Been My Rule Through Life, To Observe A Proportion Between My Efforts And My Objects. I Have Never Been Remarkable For A Bold, Active, And Sanguine Pursuit Of Advantages That Are Personal To Myself.

The Use Of Force Alone Is But Temporary. It May Subdue For A Moment; But It Does Not Remove The Necessity Of Subduing Again; And A Nation Is Not Governed, Which Is Perpetually To Be Conquered.

I Thought Ten Thousand Swords Must Have Leaped From Their Scabbards To Avenge Even A Look That Threatened Her With Insult. But The Age Of Chivalry Is Gone.

No Man Can Mortgage His Injustice As A Pawn For His Fidelity.

In General The Languages Of Most Unpolished People Have A Great Force And Energy Of Expression; And This Is But Natural. Uncultivated People Are But Ordinary Observers Of Things, And Not Critical In Distinguishing Them; But, For That Reason, They Admire More, And Are More Affected With What They See, And Therefore Express Themselves In A Warmer And More Passionate Manner.

The Distinguishing Part Of Our Constitution Is Its Liberty. To Preserve That Liberty Inviolate, Is The Peculiar Duty And Proper Trust Of A Member Of The House Of Commons. But The Liberty, The Only Liberty I Mean, Is A Liberty Connected With Order, And That Not Only Exists With Order And Virtue, But Cannot Exist At All Without Them. It Inheres In Good And Steady Government, As In Its Substance And Vital Principle.

A Nation Without Means Of Reform Is Without Means Of Survival.

The People Never Give Up Their Liberties But Under Some Delusion.

It Is Hard To Say Whether Doctors Of Law Or Divinity Have Made The Greater Advances In The Lucrative Business Of Mystery.

Falsehood Is A Perennial Spring.

I Am Convinced That We Have A Degree Of Delight, And That No Small One, In The Real Misfortunes And Pain Of Others

The Greater The Power, The More Dangerous The Abuse.

All Men Have Equal Rights, But Not To Equal Things.

True Humility-the Basis Of The Christian System-is The Low But Deep And Firm Foundation Of All Virtues.

Is It In Destroying And Pulling Down That Skill Is Displayed? The Shallowest Understanding, The Rudest Hand, Is More Than Equal To That Task.

The Great Error Of Our Nature Is, Not To Know Where To Stop, Not To Be Satisfied With Any Reasonable Acquirement; Not To Compound With Our Condition; But To Lose All We Have Gained By An Insatiable Pursuit After More.

There Is Nothing In The World Really Beneficial That Does Not Lie Within The Reach Of An Informed Understanding And A Well-protected Pursuit.

But Whoever Is A Genuine Follower Of Truth, Keeps His Eye Steady Upon His Guide, Indifferent Whither He Is Led, Provided That She Is The Leader.

Among Precautions Against Ambition, It May Not Be Amiss To Take Precautions Against Our Own. I Must Fairly Say, I Dread Our Own Power And Our Own Ambition: I Dread Our Being Too Much Dreaded.

He Was Not Merely A Chip Off The Old Block, But The Old Block Itself.

A Nation Is Not Conquered Which Is Perpetually To Be Conquered.

We Must Soften Into A Credulity Below The Milkiness Of Infancy To Think All Men Virtuous. We Must Be Tainted With A Malignity Truly Diabolical, To Believe All The World To Be Equally Wicked And Corrupt.

The Ocean Is An Object Of No Small Terror.

An Event Has Happened, Upon Which It Is Difficult To Speak, And Impossible To Be Silent.

He That Borrows The Aid Of An Equal Understanding Doubles His Own; He That Uses That Of A Superior Elevates His Own To The Stature Of That He Contemplates.

I Do Ride Contend Against The Advantages Of Distrust. In The World We Live In, It Is But Too Necessary. Some Of Old Called It The Very Sinews Of Discretion.

When A Great Man Has Some One Object In View To Be Achieved In A Given Time, It May Be Absolutely Necessary For Him To Walk Out Of All The Common Roads.

In History, A Great Volume Is Unrolled For Our Instruction, Drawing The Materials Of Future Wisdom From The Past Errors And Infirmities Of Mankind.

The True Danger Is When Liberty Is Nibbled Away, For Expedience, And By Parts.

It Is For The Most Part In Our Skill In Manners, And In The Observations Of Time And Place And Of Decency In General, That What Is Called Taste By Way Of Distinction Consists; And Which Is In Reality No Other Than A More Refined Judgment.

A Coward's Courage Is In His Tongue.

Parliament Is A Deliberative Assembly Of One Nation.you Choose A Member Indeed; But When You Have Chosen Him, Heisnotthe Member For Bristol, But Heisa Member Of Parliament.

The Science Of Constructing A Commonwealth, Or Renovating It, Or Reforming It, Is, Like Every Other Experimental Science, Not To Be Taught A Priori. Nor Is It A Short Experience That Can Instruct Us In That Practical Science, Because The Real Effects Of Moral Causes Are Not Always Immediate.

In On Summer They Have Done Their Business... They Have Completely Pulled Down To The Ground Their Monarchy, Their Church, Their Nobility, Their Law, Their Revenue, Their Army, Their Navy, Their Commerce, Their Arts, And Their Manufactures... Destroyed All Balances And Counterpoises Which Serve To Fix A State And Give It Steady Direction, And Then They Melted Down The Whole Into One Incongrous Mass Of Mob And Democracy... The People, Along With Their Political Servitude, Have Thrown Off The Yoke Of Law And Morals.

War Is The Matter Which Fills All History; And Consequently The Only, Or Almost The Only, View In Which We Can See The External Of Political Society Is In A Hostile Shape: And The Only Actions To Which We Have Always Seen, And Still See, All Of Them Intent, Are Such As Tend To The Destruction Of One Another.

A Jealous Lover Lights His Torch From The Firebrand Of The Fiend.

It Is The Nature Of All Greatness Not To Be Exact.

Between Craft And Credulity, The Voice Of Reason Is Stifled.

Man Is By His Constitution A Religious Animal; Atheism Is Against Not Only Our Reason, But Our Instincts.

Applause Is The Spur Of Noble Minds, The End And Aim Of Weak Ones.

By Gnawing Through A Dike, Even A Rat May Drown A Nation.

My Good Friends, While I Do Most Earnestly Recommend You To Take Care Of Your Health And Safety, As Things Most Precious To Us, I Would Not Have That Care Degenerate Into An Effeminate And Over-curious Attention, Which Is Always Disgraceful To A Man's Self, And Often Troublesome To Others.

Somebody Has Said, That A King May Make A Nobleman But He Cannot Make A Gentleman.

Refined Policy Ever Has Been The Parent Of Confusion, And Ever Will Be So As Long As The World Endures. Plain Good Intention, Which Is As Easily Discovered At The First View As Fraud Is Surely Detected At Last, Is Of No Mean Force In The Government Of Mankind.

People Crushed By Law, Have No Hopes But From Power. If Laws Are Their Enemies, They Will Be Enemies To Laws; And Those Who Have Much Hope And Nothing To Lose, Will Always Be Dangerous.

The Religion Most Prevalent In Our Northern Colonies Is A Refinement On The Principles Of Resistance: It Is The Dissidence Of Dissent, And The Protestantism Of The Protestant Religion.

Religion Is For The Man In Humble Life, And To Raise His Nature, And To Put Him In Mind Of A State In Which The Privileges Of Opulence Will Cease, When He Will Be Equal By Nature, And May Be More Than Equal By Virtue.

Law And Arbitrary Power Are At Eternal Enmity.

He That Struggles With Us Strengthens Our Nerves, And Sharpens Our Skill. Our Antagonist Is Our Helper.

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.

Superstition Is The Religion Of Feeble Minds.

Corrupt Influence Is Itself The Perennial Spring Of All Prodigality, And Of All Disorder; It Loads Us More Than Millions Of Debt; Takes Away Vigor From Our Arms, Wisdom From Our Councils, And Every Shadow Of Authority And Credit From The Most Venerable Parts Of Our Constitution.

To Tax And To Please, No More Than To Love And To Be Wise, Is Not Given To Men.

Pleasure Of Every Kind Quickly Satisfies.

A Thing May Look Specious In Theory, And Yet Be Ruinous In Practice; A Thing May Look Evil In Theory, And Yet Be In Practice Excellent.

He Who Calls In The Aid Of An Equal Understanding Doubles His Own; And He Who Profits By A Superior Understanding Raises His Powers To A Level With The Height Of The Superior Standing He Unites With.

Whenever Government Abandons Law, It Proclaims Anarchy.

When Ancient Opinions And Rules Of Life Are Taken Away, The Loss Cannot Possibly Be Estimated. From That Moment, We Have No Compass To Govern Us, Nor Can We Know Distinctly To What Port To Steer.

That Cardinal Virtue, Temperance.

The Credulity Of Dupes Is As Inexhaustible As The Invention Of Knaves.

The Essence Of Tyranny Is The Enforcement Of Stupid Laws.

I Own That There Is A Haughtiness And Fierceness In Human Nature Which Will Cause Innumerable Broils, Place Men In What Situation You Please.

It Is The Nature Of Tyranny And Rapacity Never To Learn Moderation From The Ill-success Of First Oppressions; On The Contrary, All Oppressors, All Men Thinking Highly Of The Methods Dictated By Their Nature, Attribute The Frustration Of Their Desires To The Want Of Sufficient Rigor.

Beauty In Distress Is Much The Most Affecting Beauty.

The First And Simplest Emotion Which We Discover In The Human Mind, Is Curiosity.

There Are Some Men Formed With Feelings So Blunt That They Can Hardly Be Said To Be Awake During The Whole Course Of Their Lives.

I Know Of Nothing Sublime Which Is Not Some Modification Of Power.

If We Command Our Wealth, We Shall Be Rich And Free; If Our Wealth Commands Us, We Are Poor Indeed.

Greatest Wealth

Whenever Our Neighbour's House Is On Fire, It Cannot Be Amiss For The Engines To Play A Little On Our Own.

Crimes Lead Into One Another. They Who Are Capable Of Being Forgers, Are Capable Of Being Incendiaries.

Humanity Cannot Be Degraded By Humiliation.

Nothing Ought To Be More Weighed Than The Nature Of Books Recommended By Public Authority. So Recommended, They Soon Form The Character Of The Age.

Politics Ought To Be Adjusted Not To Human Reasonings But To Human Nature, Of Which Reason Is But A Part And By No Means The Greatest Part.

An Entire Life Of Solitude Contradicts The Purpose Of Our Being, Since Death Itself Is Scarcely An Idea Of More Terror.

Knowledge Of Those Unalterable Relations Which Providence Has Ordained That Every Thing Should Bear To Every Other...to These We Should Conform In Good Earnest; And Not Think To Force Nature, And The Whole Order Of Her System, By A Compliance With Our Pride, And Folly, To Conform To Our Artificial Regulations.

Evils We Have Had Continually Calling For Reformation, And Reformations More Grievous Than Any Evils.

Among A People Generally Corrupt Liberty Cannot Long Exist.

To Execute Laws Is A Royal Office; To Execute Orders Is Not To Be A King. However, A Political Executive Magistracy, Though Merely Such, Is A Great Trust.

I Do Not Know How To Wish Success To Those Whose Victory Is To Separate From Us A Large And Noble Part Of Our Empire. Still Less Do I Wish Success To Injustice, Oppression And Absurdity.

Woman Is Not Made To Be The Admiration Of Everybody , But The Happiness Of One.

[slavery] Is A Weed That Grows In Every Soil.

The Wisdom Of Our Ancestors.

To Prove That The Americans Ought Not To Be Free, We Are Obliged To Deprecate The Value Of Freedom Itself.

Abstract Liberty, Like Other Mere Abstractions, Is Not To Be Found.

I Have Not Yet Lost A Feeling Of Wonder, And Of Delight, That The Delicate Motion Should Reside In All The Things Around Us, Revealing Itself Only To Him Who Looks For It.

It Is, Generally, In The Season Of Prosperity That Men Discover Their Real Temper, Principles, And Designs.

Many Of The Greatest Tyrants On The Records Of History Have Begun Their Reigns In The Fairest Manner. But The Truth Is, This Unnatural Power Corrupts Both The Heart And The Understanding.

There Is No Safety For Honest Men, But By Believing All Possible Evil Of Evil Men, And By Acting With Promptitude, Decision, And Steadiness On That Belief.

I Consider How Little Man Is, Yet, In His Own Mind, How Great. He Is Lord And Master Of All Things, Yet Scarce Can Command Anything.

Circumstances Give In Reality To Every Political Principle Its Distinguishing Color And Discriminating Effect. The Circumstances Are What Render Every Civil And Political Scheme Beneficial Or Noxious To Mankind.

It Ought To Be The Happiness And Glory Of A Representative To Live In The Strictest Union, The Closest Correspondence, And The Most Unreserved Communication With His Constituents. Their Wishes Ought To Have Great Weight With Him; Their Opinion, High Respect; Their Business, Unremitted Attention.

Curiosity Is The Most Superficial Of All The Affections; It Changes Its Object Perpetually; It Has An Appetite Which Is Very Sharp, But Very Easily Satisfied, And It Has Always An Appearance Of Giddiness, Restlessness And Anxiety.

True Religion Is The Foundation Of Society. When That Is Once Shaken By Contempt, The Whole Fabric Cannot Be Stable Nor Lasting.

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.

Over-taxation Cost England Her Colonies Of North America.

Better To Be Despised For Too Anxious Apprehensions Than Ruined By Too Confident A Security.

Of All Things, Wisdom Is The Most Terrified With Epidemical Fanaticism, Because, Of All Enemies, It Is That Against Which She Is The Least Able To Furnish Any Kind Of Resource.

Parliament Is Not A Congress Of Ambassadors From Different And Hostile Interests; Which Interests Each Must Maintain, As An Agent And Advocate, Against Other Agents And Advocates; But Parliament Is A Deliberative Assembly Of One Nation, With One Interest, That Of The Whole; Where, Not Local Purposes, Not Local Prejudices Ought To Guide, But The General Good, Resulting From The General Reason Of The Whole. You Choose A Member Indeed; But When You Have Chosen Him, He Is Not A Member Of Bristol, But He Is A Member Of Parliament.

Man Is An Animal That Cooks His Victuals.

A Perfect Democracy Is Therefore The Most Shameless Thing In The World.

It Is Undoubtedly True, Though It May Seem Paradoxical,--but, In General, Those Who Are Habitually Employed In Finding And Displaying Faults Are Unqualified For The Work Of Reformation.

All Persons Possessing Any Portion Of Power Ought To Be Strongly And Awfully Impressed With An Idea That They Act In Trust, And That They Are To Account For Their Conduct In That Trust To The One Great Master, Author, And Founder Of Society.

Who Can Know Her, And Himself, And Entertain Much Hope? Who Can See And Know Such A Creature, And Not Love Her To Distraction? She Has All The Softness That Does Not Imply Weakness... She Is Not Made To Be The Admiration Of Everybody, But The Happiness Of One.

Poetry, With All Its Obscurity, Has A More General As Well As A More Powerful Dominion Over The Passions Than The Art Of Painting.

To Govern According To The Sense And Agreement Of The Interests Of The People Is A Great And Glorious Object Of Governance. This Object Cannot Be Obtained But Through The Medium Of Popular Election, And Popular Election Is A Mighty Evil.

Example Is The School Of Mankind, And They Will Learn At No Other.

Adversity Is A Severe Instructor, Set Over Us By One Who Knows Us Better Than We Do Ourselves, As He Loves Us Better Too. He That Wrestles With Us Strengthens Our Nerves And Sharpens Our Skill. Our Antagonist Is Our Helper. This Conflict With Difficulty Makes Us Acquainted With Our Object, And Compels Us To Consider It In All Its Relations. It Will Not Suffer Us To Be Superficial.

There Is A Wide Difference Between Admiration And Love. The Sublime, Which Is The Cause Of The Former, Always Dwells On Great Objects And Terrible; The Latter On Small Ones And Pleasing; We Submit To What We Admire, But We Love What Submits To Us: In One Case We Are Forced, In The Other, We Are Flattered, Into Compliance.

Nothing Turns Out To Be So Oppressive And Unjust As A Feeble Government.

Oppressive Governments

Water And Oil, Simply Considered, Are Capable Of Giving Some Pleasure To The Taste. Water, When Simple, Is Insipid, Inodorous, Colorless, And Smooth; It Is Found, When Not Cold, To Be A Great Resolver Of Spasms, And Lubricator Of The Fibres; This Power It Probably Owes To Its Smoothness.

The Introduction Of Christianity, Which, Under Whatever Form, Always Confers Such Inestimable Benefits On Mankind, Soon Made A Sensible Change In These Rude And Fierce Manners.

There Are Cases In Which A Man Would Be Ashamed Not To Have Been Imposed Upon. There Is A Confidence Necessary To Human Intercourse, And Without Which Men Are Often More Injured By Their Own Suspicions Than They Would Be By The Perfidy Of Others.

Religion Is The Basis Of Civil Society, And The Source Of All Good And Of All Comfort.

It Is In The Relaxation Of Security; It Is In The Expansion Of Prosperity; It Is In The Hour Of Dilatation Of The Heart, And Of Its Softening Into Festivity And Pleasure, That The Real Character Of Men Is Discerned.

As To Great And Commanding Talents, They Are The Gift Of Providence In Some Way Unknown To Us, They Rise Where They Are Least Expected; They Fail When Everything Seems Disposed To Produce Them, Or At Least To Call Them Forth.

Dangers By Being Despised Grow Great.

Society Is Indeed A Contract. It Is A Partnership In All Science; A Partnership In All Art; A Partnership In Every Virtue, And In All Perfection. As The Ends Of Such A Partnership Cannot Be Obtained In Many Generations, It Becomes A Partnership Not Only Between Those Who Are Living, But Between Those Who Are Living, Those Who Are Dead, And Those Who Are To Be Born.

The Wise Determine From The Gravity Of The Case; The Irritable, From Sensibility To Oppression; The High Minded, From Disdain And Indignation At Abusive Power In Unworthy Hands.

We Are In A War Of A Peculiar Nature. It Is Not With An Ordinary Community, Which Is Hostile Or Friendly As Passion Or As Interest May Veer About: Not With A State Which Makes War Through Wantonness, And Abandons It Through Lassitude. We Are At War With A System, Which By Its Essence, Is Inimical To All Other Governments, And Which Makes Peace Or War, As Peace And War May Best Contribute To Their Subversion. It Is With An Armed Doctrine That We Are At War. It Has, By Its Essence, A Faction Of Opinion, And Of Interest, And Of Enthusiasm, In Every Country.

The Greatest Sin Is To Do Nothing Because You Can Only Do A Little.

Making A Difference

To Read Without Reflecting Is Like Eating Without Digesting.

The Men Of England,- The Men, I Mean, Of Light And Leading In England.

The Worthy Gentleman Who Has Been Snatched From Us At The Moment Of The Election, And In The Middle Of The Contest, Whilst His Desires Were As Warm And His Hopes As Eager As Ours, Has Feelingly Told Us What Shadows We Are, And What Shadows We Pursue.

Good Company, Lively Conversation, And The Endearments Of Friendship Fill The Mind With Great Pleasure.

Facts Are To The Mind What Food Is To The Body.

You Will Smile Here At The Consistency Of Those Democratists Who, When They Are Not On Their Guard, Treat The Humbler Part Of The Community With The Greatest Contempt, Whilst, At The Same Time They Pretend To Make Them The Depositories Of All Power.

This Sort Of People Are So Taken Up With Their Theories About The Rights Of Man That They Have Totally Forgotten His Nature.

The Same Sun Which Gilds All Nature, And Exhilarates The Whole Creation, Does Not Shine Upon Disappointed Ambition.

The Superfluities Of A Rich Nation Furnish A Better Object Of Trade Than The Necessities Of A Poor One. It Is The Interest Of The Commercial World That Wealth Should Be Found Everywhere.

The Most Favourable Laws Can Do Very Little Towards The Happiness Of People When The Disposition Of The Ruling Power Is Adverse To Them.

Great Men Are The Guideposts And Landmarks In The State.

When Any Work Seems To Have Required Immense Force And Labor To Effect It, The Idea Is Grand.

He Only Deserves To Be Remembered By Posterity Who Treasures Up And Preserves The History Of His Ancestors.

Passion For Fame: A Passion Which Is The Instinct Of All Great Souls.

There Ought To Be System Of Manners In Every Nation Which A Well-formed Mind Would Be Disposed To Relish. To Make Us Love Our Country, Our Country Ought To Be Lovely.

Nothing Is So Fatal To Religion As Indifference.

Falsehood And Delusion Are Allowed In No Case Whatever; But, As In The Exercise Of All The Virtues, There Is An Economy Of Truth. It Is A Sort Of Temperance, By Which A Man Speaks Truth With Measure, That He May Speak It The Longer.

Contempt Is Not A Thing To Be Despised.

A Populace Never Rebels From Passion For Attack, But From Impatience Of Suffering.

I Despair Of Ever Receiving The Same Degree Of Pleasure From The Most Exalted Performances Of Genius Which I Felt In Childhood From Pieces Which My Present Judgment Regards As Trifling And Contemptible.

To Complain Of The Age We Live In, To Murmur At The Present Possessors Of Power, To Lament The Past, To Conceive Extravagant Hopes Of The Future, Are The Common Dispositions Of The Greatest Part Of Mankind.

Greater Mischief Happens Often From Folly, Meanness, And Vanity Than From The Greater Sins Of Avarice And Ambition.

The Question Is Not Whether You Have A Right To Render People Miserable, But Whether It Is Not In Your Best Interest To Make Them Happy.

The Method Of Teaching Which Approaches Most Nearly To The Method Of Investigation Is Incomparably The Best.

To Reach The Height Of Our Ambition Is Like Trying To Reach The Rainbow; As We Advance It Recedes.

Toleration Is Good For All, Or It Is Good For None.

In Doing Good, We Are Generally Cold, And Languid, And Sluggish; And Of All Things Afraid Of Being Too Much In The Right. But Theworks Of Malice And Injustice Are Quite In Another Style. They Are Finished With A Bold, Masterly Hand; Touched As They Are With The Spirit Of Those Vehement Passions That Call Forth All Our Energies, Whenever We Oppress And Persecute.

Turbulent, Discontented Men Of Quality, In Proportion As They Are Puffed Up With Personal Pride And Arrogance, Generally Despise Their Own Order.

Gambling Is A Principle Inherent In Human Nature.

There Is A Courageous Wisdom; There Is Also A False, Reptile Prudence, The Result Not Of Caution But Of Fear.

Old Religious Factions Are Volcanoes Burnt Out.

Good Order Is The Foundation Of All Things.

Though Ugliness Be The Opposite Of Beauty, It Is Not The Opposite To Proportion And Fitness; For It Is Possible That A Thing May Be Very Ugly With Any Proportions, And With A Perfect Fitness For Any Use.

Vice Incapacitates A Man From All Public Duty; It Withers The Powers Of His Under- Standing, And Makes His Mind Paralytic.

In The Weakness Of One Kind Of Authority, And In The Fluctuation Of All, The Officers Of An Army Will Remain For Some Time Mutinous And Full Of Faction, Until Some Popular General, Who Understands The Art Of Conciliating The Soldiery, And Who Possesses The True Spirit Of Command, Shall Draw The Eyes Of All Men Upon Himself. Armies Will Obey Him On His Personal Account. There Is No Other Way Of Securing Military Obedience In This State Of Things.

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