Harold Laski on Edmund Burke

“Burke who with ample defects has a moral insight into men and institutions I believe to be unsurpassed.”

“[Burke's thought was] permeated by a power of compassion and a fund of common sense both of which are beyond all praise... [His capacity of mind gave] forth a radiant light... [He was] a lovable, not less than a remarkable man... [There was] no atom of malice in his (Burke's) disposition...he never gave way to envy or jealousy. He was never petty minded... with all his faults, he was in every sense of the word, a very great man.”

“Burke saw beyond his own age to a view of colonial policy, the significance of which we are only just beginning to apply... He saw clearly the moral vice of predatory imperialism, and he stood by his principles in the face of obloquy, indifference and neglect. He made a lonely and impressive protest against the hypocrisy of those who think that the superior abilities of the white man justify a policy towards the native races of oppression and rapacity and corruption as long as profits can be extorted from their misery.”

“In his own epoch, I do not think that anyone, save perhaps Chatham, can compete with him in energy of mind; none certainly in the combination of energy of mind with the power of profound reflection. He was often wrong; he was often prejudiced; he was sometimes carried away by those gusts of passion which not seldom mark, as they did in him, the weakness of a noble nature. Your founder at any rate devoted all his immense capacity to the single purpose of improving the condition of mankind. That was his major ambition; it is notable in how large a degree he achieved it. Nil tetigit quod non ornavit can be said of him as of few figures in the combined history of our two nations for the two centuries that have elapsed since he wrote down the minutes of your meetings. May what he did be an example and an inspiration to those who follow him along the difficult road he had the courage to tread.”