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Edmund Burke

Anglo-Irish statesman, political theorist and conservative philosopher (1729-1797) · Politicians · Died at 68

Edmund Burke is read about 1,495 times a day, in 82 languages.

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An 18th-century Anglo-Irish politician who watched the French Revolution unfold and wrote the text that became conservatism's founding document - arguing that tearing down old institutions destroys more than it saves.

PoliticiansPoliticianPoliticsPhilosophyLiteratureEarly Modern Era

A life in dates

1797Died9 July 17971757“In the interval between his campaigns Agricola was employed in the great labours of peace.”In their wordsAn Essay towards an Abridgment of English History (1757-c. 1763), quoted in The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. VI (1856),

1756“The writers against religion, whilst they oppose every system, are wisely careful never to set up any of their own.”In their wordsPreface

“I need not excuse myself to your Lordship, nor, I think, to any honest man, for the zeal I have shown in this cause; for it is an honest zeal, and in a good cause.”In their wordsA Vindication of Natural Society: or, a View of the Miseries and Evils arising to Mankind from every Species of Artifical Society · Full

“Kings are ambitious; the nobility haughty; and the populace tumultuous and ungovernable.”In their wordsA Vindication of Natural Society: or, a View of the Miseries and Evils arising to Mankind from every Species of Artifical Society · Full

“We scarce ever had a prince, who by fraud, or violence, had not made some infringement on the constitution.”In their wordsA Vindication of Natural Society: or, a View of the Miseries and Evils arising to Mankind from every Species of Artifical Society · Full

“The most obvious division of society is into rich and poor; and it is no less obvious, that the number of the former bear a great disproportion to those of the latter.”In their wordsA Vindication of Natural Society: or, a View of the Miseries and Evils arising to Mankind from every Species of Artifical Society · Full

1729Born12 January 1729

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

Sir Joshua Reynolds - Edmund Burke, 1729 - 1797. Statesman, orator and author - PG 2362 - National Galleries of ScotlandSir Joshua Reynolds - Edmund Burke, 1729 - 1797. Statesman, orator and author - PG 2362 - National Galleries of Scotland"Crumbs of comfort", or-old-orthodox, restoring consolation to his fallen children. (BM 1851,0901.107)"Crumbs of comfort", or-old-orthodox, restoring consolation to his fallen children. (BM 1851,0901.107)"Pity the sorrows of a poor man".Vide, Scene in Bloomsbury Square (BM 1851,0901.780)"Pity the sorrows of a poor man".Vide, Scene in Bloomsbury Square (BM 1851,0901.780)"Pity the sorrows of a poor man".Vide, Scene in Bloomsbury Square (BM 1868,0808.6505)"Pity the sorrows of a poor man".Vide, Scene in Bloomsbury Square (BM 1868,0808.6505)(Burke) on the sublime and beautiful by Thomas Cornell(Burke) on the sublime and beautiful by Thomas Cornell(Fragment of a strip design.) (BM 1868,0808.5865)(Fragment of a strip design.) (BM 1868,0808.5865)EdmundBurke1771EdmundBurke1771Edmund Burke by James NorthcoteEdmund Burke by James Northcote

In their own words 10

,
Edmund Burke
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10 statements, newest first

  1. In the interval between his campaigns Agricola was employed in the great labours of peace.

    1757, An Essay towards an Abridgment of English History (1757-c. 1763), quoted in The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. VI (1856),, Own words

  2. The writers against religion, whilst they oppose every system, are wisely careful never to set up any of their own.

    1756, Preface, Own words

  3. War," says Machiavel, "ought to be the only study of a prince;" and by a prince he means every sort of state, however constituted.

    1756, A Vindication of Natural Society: or, a View of the Miseries and Evils arising to Mankind from every Species of Artifical Society · Full, Own words

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In their orbit

Spouse: Jane Mary Nugent

About this person

Edmund Burke spent nearly three decades as a Whig MP in the House of Commons, from 1766 to 1794, defending causes that didn't always align: he supported the American colonists' right to resist British taxes (though not independence), pushed for Catholic emancipation, and led the impeachment effort against Warren Hastings of the East India Company. In 1790, watching the French Revolution consume the church and ancien régime, he published Reflections on the Revolution in France, asserting that revolution was shredding the fabric of good society and that manners, religious institutions, and inherited structures were essential to moral stability. The book split the Whigs - Burke led the Old Whigs against Charles James Fox's pro-revolution faction - and made him a lodestone for conservatives on both sides of the Atlantic. He died in 1797, but the argument lived: by the 20th century, Burke was credited as the philosophical founder of modern conservatism, his warnings about unchecked change still cited whenever tradition and upheaval collide.

Category
Politicians
Type
Politician
Status
deceased
Dates
Lived 1729 to 1797 · aged 68

Politicians born in the 1720s 6

William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe57.0Friedrich Christian I, Elector of Saxony54.4William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire54.4Ludovico Manin54.2Prince Heinrich of Prussia54.0Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe53.8

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