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About this quote

What does it mean?
Hypocrisy favors grand ideas that don't require action.
In plain terms
Fake morality loves expensive-sounding beliefs that cost nothing.
What can you take from it?
Beware ideas that sound noble but demand no effort.

Where it applies

  • moral debates
  • public discourse
  • personal integrity

Putting it to work

  • evaluating moral claims
  • promoting accountability

Questions to consider

  • Does cost matter for beliefs?
  • How to spot hypocrisy?

Another view

Grand ideas can inspire real action sometimes.

More from Edmund Burke

  1. Good order is the foundation of all good things.

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  2. I have never yet seen any plan which has not been mended by the observation of those who were much inferior in understanding to the person who took the lead in…

    Permalink to quote #120
  3. Flattery corrupts both the receiver and the giver.

    Permalink to quote #117

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