Edmund Burke Quotes

The knowledge of the few cannot counteract the ignorance of the many.... The light of philosophy, when it is confined to a small minority, points out the possessors as the victims rather than the illuminators of the multitude.

We cannot deny that there is still a horde—as I must call them—of people who, like Licinius the Emperor [Roman Emperor, ruled 81-96], denounce learning and the Arts as a danger to the State and hateful in themselves.

To enter upon rulership of a country but not preserve its scholars will result in the downfall of the country.

No, I'm no enemy to learning; it hurts not me.

What could be wiser and to give people who can think the leisure in which to do it.

My mother said I must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy. That some people, unable to go to school, were more educated and more intelligent than college professors.

The difference between a learned man and an ignorant one is the same as that between a living man and a corpse.

One of the greatest joys known to man is to take a flight into ignorance in search of knowledge.

The learned is happy, nature to explore; The fool is happy, that he knows no more.

It is no good to try to stop knowledge from going forward. Ignorance is never better than knowledge.

My goal is to make the viewer a little bit smarter.

A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.

The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding.

To keep a person ignorant is to place them in a cage.

No man should escape our universities without knowing how little he knows.

Anti-intellectualism has long been the anti-Semitism of the businessman.

Only in Britain could it be thought a defect to be too clever by half. The probability is that too many people are too stupid by three-quarters.

There are few earthly things more beautiful than a university a place where those who hate ignorance may strive to know, where those who perceive truth may strive to make others see.

The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind.

The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living from the dead.

America is becoming so educated that ignorance will be a novelty. I will belong to the select few.

Rich people without wisdom and learning are but sheep with golden fleeces.

There is always a place I can take someone's curiosity and land where they end up enlightened when we're done. That's my challenge as an educator. No one is dumb who is curious. The people who don't ask questions remain clueless throughout their lives.

A little learning, indeed, may be a dangerous thing, but the want of learning is a calamity to any people.

The fifth freedom is freedom from ignorance.