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. They give their whole form and color to our lives.

Edmund Burke

More information about this quote

Topic

Manners Custom and convention

Author

Edmund Burke

Source

Two Letters to a Member of the Present Parliament, on the Proposals for Peace with the Regicide Directory of France

Medium

Open letter Letter

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1796 1790s 18th century

Occupation

Philosopher Politician Writer

From

Ireland Europe

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Burke, Edmund. Two Letters to a Member of the Present Parliament, on the Proposals for Peace with the Regicide Directory of France. London: F. and C. Rivington, 1796, letter 1.

Current Citation

Burke, Edmund. Letters on a Regicide Peace." The Portable Edmund Burke, edited by Isaac Kramnick. Penguin, 2009, letter 1.

Illustrated Quote

A quote by Edmund Burke about manners: “Manners are of more importance than laws... Manners are what vex or soothe, corrupt…”
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A quote by Edmund Burke about manners: “Manners are of more importance than laws... Manners are what vex or soothe, corrupt…”
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A quote by Edmund Burke about manners: “Manners are of more importance than laws... Manners are what vex or soothe, corrupt…”
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Related Quotes

Below are one or more quotes that share at least one tag with the quote at the top of the page

Another quote by Edmund Burke

Because half a dozen grasshoppers under a fern make the field ring with their importunate chink, whilst thousands of great cattle, reposed beneath the shadow of the British oak, chew the cud and are silent, pray do not imagine, that those who make the noise are the only inhabitants of the field.

Edmund Burke

Reflections on the Revolution in France

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Read Reflections on the Revolution in France at Project Gutenberg
More information about this quote
Topic
Political agitation

Author

Edmund Burke
Source
Reflections on the Revolution in France
Genre
Political literature
Statement Type
Metaphor, analogy and simile
Language
English
Time
1790 1790s 18th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Burke, Edmund. Reflections on the Revolution in France. London: James Dodsley, 1790.

Current Citation

Burke, Edmund. "Reflections on the Revolution in France." The Portable Edmund Burke, edited by Isaac Kramnick. Penguin, 2009.

Another quote from the 1790s

A monarchy is a merchantman which sails well, but will sometimes strike on a rock, and go to the bottom; a republic is a raft which will never sink, but then your feet are always in the water.

Fisher Ames

More information about this quote
Topic
Monarchy Democracy Downsides of democracy Political theory
Speaker
Fisher Ames
Medium
Speech
Genre
Political speech
Language
English
Time
1795 1790s 18th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Ames, Fisher. Address in the House of Representatives. House of Representatives. 1795, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

Current Citation

Ames, Fisher. Quoted in A Miracle Mirrored: The Dutch Republic in European Perspective, written by Henk van Nierop, edited by Karel Davids and Jan Lucassen. Cambridge University Press, 2011, ch. 2.