Joseph de Maistre
Joseph de Maistre
Joseph-Marie, comte de Maistrewas a Savoyard philosopher, writer, lawyer, and diplomat. He defended hierarchical societies and a monarchical State in the period immediately following the French Revolution. Maistre was a subject of the King of Piedmont-Sardinia, whom he served as member of the Savoy Senate, ambassador to Russia, and minister of state to the court in Turin...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionDiplomat
Date of Birth1 April 1753
CountryFrance
arms kingdoms reign
In the whole vast dome of living nature there reigns an open violence, a kind of prescriptive fury which arms all the creatures to their common doom: as soon as you leave the inanimate kingdom you find the decree of violent death inscribed on the very frontiers of life.
mean men perfection
In the works of man, everything is as poor as its author; vision is confined, means are limited, scope is restricted, movements are labored, and results are humdrum.
art women men
Women have a genius for love; men can only learn the art indifferently.
men desire fortresses
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.
men views giving
Every time that a man who is not an absolute fool presents you with a question he considers very problematic after giving it careful thought, distrust those quick answers that come to the mind of someone who has considered it only briefly or not at all. These answers are usually simplistic views lacking in consistency, which explain nothing, or which do not bear examination.
inspiration support genius
Genius does not seem to derive any great support from syllogisms. Its carriage is free; its manner has a touch of inspiration. We see it come, but we never see it walk.
pain
Nothing is necessary except God, and nothing is less necessary than pain.
love pain punishment
All pain is a punishment, and every punishment is inflicted for love as much as for justice.
respect men flesh
I don't know what a scoundrel is like, but I know what a respectable man is like, and it's enough to make one's flesh creep.
degradation language individual
Every individual or national degeneration is immediately revealed by a directly proportional degradation in language.
civilization found altars
Wherever an altar is found, there civilization exists.
opposites revolution needed
What is needed is not a revolution in the opposite direction, but the opposite of a revolution.
art philosophy men
Christianity was preached by ignorant men and believed by servants, and that is why it resembles nothing ever known.
song speak reason
Reason speaks in words alone, but love has a song.