A great empire and little minds go ill together.
Edmund BurkeRead
By hating vices too much, they come to love men too little.
Interpretation
Excessive disdain for bad qualities leads to a lack of appreciation for good people.
Edmund Burke's quote suggests that if we focus too much on hating the flaws and vices of others, we may end up neglecting or undervaluing the virtues and worth of individuals. This serves as a reminder that a balanced perspective is essential; overwhelming negativity towards certain traits can blind us to the positive aspects of human nature.
In practice
During a discussion on morality at a community event, this quote can be used to spark dialogue about the importance of understanding and compassion.
A great empire and little minds go ill together.
To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting.
Flattery corrupts both the receiver and the giver.
The hottest fires in hell are reserved for those who remain neutral in times of moral crisis.
Society can overlook murder, adultery or swindling; it never forgives preaching of a new gospel.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
There are no days in life so memorable as those which vibrate to some stroke of the imagination.
What restrains us from killing is partly fear of punishment, partly moral scruple, and partly what may be described as a sense of humor
We are on the side of religion as opposed to religions, and we are among those who believe in the wretched inadequacy of sermons and the sublimity of prayer.
Anything that you resent and strongly react to in another is also in you.
When I read obituaries I always note the age of the deceased. Automatically I relate this figure to my own age. Four years to go, I think. Nine more years. Two years and I'm dead. The power of numbers is never more evident than when we use them to speculate on the time of our dying.
It is going to be a long, hard haul; it will require patience, courage, faith that hangs on when hope fails, if we are to tame the rude barbarity of man, so that the atomic age becomes a blessing, not a curse. There never was such a day for the Christian gospel. God help us all in these years ahead to make that gospel live in men and nations!
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.