What Edmund Burke thinks about democracy
Irish-born British statesman and political philosopher (1729 to 1797); author of Reflections on the Revolution in France.
Edmund Burke did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
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2 dated positions, c. 1790, in their own words. Our reading of what Edmund Burke has said — not written or endorsed by them.
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Their wordsA perfect democracy is therefore the most shameless thing in the world. As it is the most shameless, it is also the most fearless.
↗Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)gutenberg.org All 21 from this book
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Their wordsOf this I am certain, that in a democracy the majority of the citizens is capable of exercising the most cruel oppressions upon the minority, whenever strong divisions prevail in that kind of polity, as they often must,—and that oppression of the minority will extend to far greater numbers, and will be carried on with much greater fury, than can almost ever be apprehended from the dominion of a single sceptre.
↗Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)gutenberg.org All 21 from this book