Quote #154

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 in.

More from Edmund Burke

  1. We must not always judge of the generality of the opinion by the noise of the acclamation.
  2. Well is it known that ambition can creep as well as soar.
  3. Jacobinism is the revolt of the enterprising talents of a country against its property.
  4. By gnawing through a dike, even a rat may drown a nation.
  5. All those instances to be found in history, whether real or fabulous, of a doubtful public spirit, at which morality is perplexed, reason i…
  6. Free trade is not based on utility but on justice.
  7. If we command our wealth, we shall be rich and free; if our wealth commands us, we are poor indeed.
  8. If we have equity, wisdom, and justice, it will belong to this country; if we have it not, it will not belong to this country.

All Edmund Burke quotes