The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Volume 2Henry G. Bohn, 1855 - Great Britain |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 64
Page 7
... evil and dangerous , even though the instruments of effecting such purposes had been merely of a neutral quality . But it really appears to me , that the means which this act employs are , at least , as exceptionable as the end . Permit ...
... evil and dangerous , even though the instruments of effecting such purposes had been merely of a neutral quality . But it really appears to me , that the means which this act employs are , at least , as exceptionable as the end . Permit ...
Page 8
... evil example ( which must in their nature be daily and ordinary incidents ) can be ad- mitted as a reason for such mighty operations . But the true danger is , when liberty is nibbled away , for expedients , and by parts . The Habeas ...
... evil example ( which must in their nature be daily and ordinary incidents ) can be ad- mitted as a reason for such mighty operations . But the true danger is , when liberty is nibbled away , for expedients , and by parts . The Habeas ...
Page 10
... evil principle . Perhaps they were in the right . But when my opinion was so very clearly to the contrary , for the reasons I have just stated , I am sure my attendance would have been ridiculous . I must add in further explanation of ...
... evil principle . Perhaps they were in the right . But when my opinion was so very clearly to the contrary , for the reasons I have just stated , I am sure my attendance would have been ridiculous . I must add in further explanation of ...
Page 21
... evil , ) trouble- some discussions are brought to some sort of adjustment ; and every hot controversy is not a civil war . But , if the colonies ( to bring the general matter home to us ) could see , that , in Great Britain , the mass ...
... evil , ) trouble- some discussions are brought to some sort of adjustment ; and every hot controversy is not a civil war . But , if the colonies ( to bring the general matter home to us ) could see , that , in Great Britain , the mass ...
Page 31
... evil to be lessened . It is not only a private blessing of the first order , but the vital spring and energy of the state itself , which has just so much life and vigour as there is liberty in it . But whether liberty be advantageous or ...
... evil to be lessened . It is not only a private blessing of the first order , but the vital spring and energy of the state itself , which has just so much life and vigour as there is liberty in it . But whether liberty be advantageous or ...
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
abuse act of parliament affairs ancient army assignats authority better bill blue riband body cause charter civil civil list Company's conduct confiscation consider constitution corrupt court crimes crown duty East-India Company effect election England establishment estates evil executive executive government favour France gentlemen give hands honour House of Commons House of Lords human Hyder Ali India interest judges justice king kingdom land liberty Lord Majesty Majesty's mankind means member of parliament ment military military of France mind ministers monarchy moral Nabob National Assembly nature never obedience object obliged opinion oppression parliament pension persons political polygars possession present prince principles proceedings reason reform regard religion revenue Revolution ruin scheme sort sovereign spirit suffer things thought tion treaty true trust tyranny virtue whilst whole wholly wish
Popular passages
Page 320 - It is gone, that sensibility of principle, that chastity of honour, which felt a stain like a wound, which inspired courage whilst it mitigated ferocity, which ennobled whatever it touched, and under which vice itself lost half its evil, by losing all its grossness.
Page 279 - A spirit of innovation is generally the result of a selfish temper and confined views. People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors.
Page 338 - 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.
Page 320 - 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. That of sophisters, economists, and calculators, has succeeded; and the glory of Europe is extinguished for ever.
Page 279 - Our political system is placed in a just correspondence and symmetry with the order of the world, and with the mode of existence decreed to a permanent body composed of transitory parts; wherein, by the disposition of a stupendous wisdom, moulding together the great mysterious incorporation of the human race...
Page 320 - Little did I dream when she added titles of veneration to those of enthusiastic, distant, respectful love, that she should ever be obliged to carry the sharp antidote against disgrace concealed in that bosom...
Page 321 - All the decent drapery of life is to be rudely torn off. All the superadded ideas, furnished from the wardrobe of a moral imagination, which the heart owns and the understanding ratifies, as necessary to cover the defects of our naked, shivering nature, and to raise it to dignity in our own estimation, are to be exploded as a ridiculous, absurd, and antiquated fashion.
Page 497 - Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites. — in proportion as their love to justice is above their rapacity, — in proportion as their soundness and sobriety of understanding is above their vanity and presumption, — in proportion as they are more disposed to listen to the counsels of the wise and good, in preference to the flattery of knaves. Society cannot exist, unless a controlling power upon will and appetite...
Page 279 - By a constitutional policy, working after the pattern of nature, we receive, we hold, we transmit our government and our privileges in the same manner in which we enjoy and transmit our property and our lives.
Page 306 - ... 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; but that which in the first instance is prejudicial may be excellent in its remoter operation, and its excellence may arise even from th'e ill effects it produces in the beginning. The reverse also happens; and very plausible schemes, with very pleasing commencements, have often shameful and lamentable conclusions.