Circumstances (which with some gentlemen pass for nothing) give in reality to every political principle its distinguishing colour, and discriminating effect. The circumstances are what render every civil and political scheme beneficial or noxious to mankind.

— Edmund Burke Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)

More quotes by Edmund Burke

Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)

Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents (1770)

Speech at a County Meeting of Buckinghamshire (1784)

A Letter to a Member of the National Assembly (1791)

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