Tom Furniss, 'Cementing the nation: Burke's Reflections on nationalism and national identity', in John Whale (ed.), Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France: New Interdisciplinary Essays (2000), pp. 131-133

Feeling and providing as an "Englishman," Burke works continually to protect the English national character from the plague of revolutionary France... [For Burke] English feelings remain native and natural; they ensure maintenance of "liberal and manly morals"; and the reverence of the English for God, kings, parliaments, magistrates, priests, and nobility is not a slavery, as the radicals would have it, but the basis of their fitness for "rational liberty". The English national character finds its authentic expression and counterpart in the English constitution... For the English, then, to remain loyal to their constitution is to remain true to their essential national character.

— Tom Furniss

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Feeling and providing as an "Englishman," Burke works continually to protect the English national character from the plague of revolutionary France... [For Burke] English feelings remain native and natural; they ensure maintenance of "liberal and manly morals"; and the reverence of the English for God, kings, parliaments, magistrates, priests, and nobility is not a slavery, as the radicals would have it, but the basis of their fitness for "rational liberty". The English national character finds its authentic expression and counterpart in the English constitution... For the English, then, to remain loyal to their constitution is to remain true to their essential national character." in the context of "Tom Furniss, 'Cementing the nation: Burke's Reflections on nationalism and national identity', in John Whale (ed.), Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France: New Interdisciplinary Essays (2000), pp. 131-133" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Edmund Burke" (Quotes about Burke: Sorted alphabetically by author, F) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Edmund Burke

About Edmund Burke

Edmund Burke (12 January 1729 – 9 July 1797) was a British and Irish statesman and philosopher. Born in Dublin, Burke served as a member of parliament (MP) between 1766 and 1794 in the House of Commons of Great Britain with the Whig Party after moving to London in 1750.