Edmund Burke

Irish statesman and political philosopher, 1729–1797. Explained quotes and 1 wrongly credited to them.

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“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

Often credited to Edmund Burke · 1950

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“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

Often credited to Edmund Burke · No source in Burke's writings · 1950

One of the most quoted sayings in politics, but it does not appear in Burke's works. Burke and John Stuart Mill both wrote similar, longer thoughts.

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About Edmund Burke

Edmund Burke was an Irish-born writer and member of the British Parliament who is often called the founder of modern conservatism. He supported the grievances of the American colonists, campaigned against corruption in British India, and wrote Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), a powerful attack on the French Revolution’s break with tradition.

Burke’s real writing is dense and full of long sentences, which is one clue that the snappy line most often credited to him, about good men doing nothing, did not come from him.