Cardinal Richelieu
Cardinal Richelieu
Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal-Duke of Richelieu and of Fronsac, commonly referred to as Cardinal Richelieuʁiʃljø]), was a French clergyman, nobleman, and statesman. He was consecrated as a bishop in 1607 and was appointed Foreign Secretary in 1616. Richelieu soon rose in both the Catholic Church and the French government, becoming a cardinal in 1622, and King Louis XIII's chief minister in 1624. He remained in office until his death in 1642; he was succeeded by Cardinal Mazarin, whose career...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionReligious Leader
Date of Birth9 September 1585
CityParis, France
CountryFrance
Secrecy is the first essential in affairs of state.
Give me six lines written by the most honorable of men, and I will find an excuse in them to hang him
Secrecy is the first essential in affairs of the State.
To know how to dissimulate is the knowledge of kings.
I do not sleep to let others sleep in the shade of my waking.
Nothing is as dangerous for the state as those who would govern kingdoms with maxims found in books.
One must believe neither the people of the palace, who ordinarily measure the power of the king by the shape of his crown, which, being round, has no end, nor those who, in the excesses of an indiscreet zeal, proclaim themselves openly as partisans of Rome.
Did you think I was immortal?
Carry on any enterprise as if all future success depended on it.
When people are too comfortable, it is not possible to restrain them within the bounds of their duty? They may be compared to mules who, being accustomed to burdens, are spoilt by rest rather than labour.
War is one of the scourges with which it has pleased God to afflict men.
To know how to disguise is the knowledge of kings.
Not the least of the qualities that go into the making of a great ruler is the ability of letting others serve him.
We may employ artifice to deceive a rival, anything against our enemies.