Edmund Burke

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.

The first and simplest emotion which we discover in the human mind, is curiosity.

You can never plan the future by the past.

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.

Ambition can creep as well as soar.

It is the interest of the commercial world that wealth should be found everywhere.

If we command our wealth, we shall be rich and free; if our wealth commands us, we are poor indeed.

Applause is the spur of noble minds, the end and aim of weak ones.

Nobility is a graceful ornament to the civil order. It is the Corinthian capital of polished society.

Justice is itself the great standing policy of civil society; and any eminent departure from it, under any circumstances, lies under the suspicion of being no policy at all.

All human laws are, properly speaking, only declaratory; they have no power over the substance of original justice.

Free trade is not based on utility but on justice.