Quotes from Joseph de Maistre

No man has ceased to believe in God before having decided that he should not exist; no book would produce atheism, and no book can restore faith.

If there was no moral evil upon earth, there would be no physical evil.

There is no man who desires as passionately as a Russian. If we could imprison a Russian desire beneath a fortress, that fortress would explode.

The concept of number is the obvious distinction between the beast and man.

We are tainted by modern philosophy which has taught us that all is good, whereas evil has polluted everything and in a very real sense all is evil, since nothing is in its proper place.

Christianity was preached by ignorant men and believed by servants, and that is why it resembles nothing ever known.

There is no philosophy without the art of ignoring objections.

Every country has the government it deserves.

Man in general, if reduced to himself, is too wicked to be free.

A constitution that is made for all nations is made for none.

Nothing is necessary except God, and nothing is less necessary than pain.

Every nation has the government that it deserves.

Wherever an altar is found, there civilization exists.

Man is insatiable for power; he is infantile in his desires and, always discontented with what he has, loves only what he has not. People complain of the despotism of princes; they ought to complain of the despotism of man.

To know how to wait. It is the great secret of success.

All pain is a punishment, and every punishment is inflicted for love as much as for justice.

Reason speaks in words alone, but love has a song.

In my lifetime I have seen Frenchmen, Italians, Russians, etc.; thanks to Montesquieu, I even know that one can be Persian. But as for man, I declare that I have never in my life met him; if he exists, he exists unknown to me.

The sword of justice has no scabbard.

There are no easy methods of learning difficult things; the method is to close your door, give out that you are not at home, and work.

Man is insatiable for power; he is infantile in his desires and, always discontented with what he has, loves only what he has not. People complain of the despotism of princes; they ought to complain of the despotism of man.

Man is so muddled, so dependent on the things immediately before his eyes, that every day even the most submissive believer can be seen to risk the torments of the afterlife for the smallest pleasure.

Nothing is necessary except God, and nothing is less necessary than pain.

To know how to wait. It is the great secret of success.