The maximum measured values of burning velocities of liquid fuels with air are surveyed. A degree of generalization of these values is suggested in terms of the chemical structure of the fuel. It is also shown that for lean mixtures and different classes of gaseous and liquid fuels the burning velocity varies approximately linearly with the heat of reaction of a mole of the premixture. The classical expression for laminar burning velocity helps to explain relationships observed between both the integral of the normalized computed volumetric heat release rate with respect to fractional temperature increase and the position of the centroid of this integral, theta(c), and the product of the molar heat of reaction and the burning velocity. A generalized correlation is shown to exist between the burning velocity eigenvalue and theta(c). Finally, an algebraic expression is suggested, in terms of two variables, for the profile of normalized heat release rate against fractional temperature increase.