We recognize in a plant some unknown power, a single, form-giving force, which creates and conserves, which moves unwaveringly toward its end, which appropriates what is useful to it and rejects that which would harm it. Joseph de Maistre More Quotes by Joseph de Maistre More Quotes From Joseph de Maistre Every country has the government it deserves. Joseph de Maistre freedomgovernmentcountry In a democracy people get the leaders they deserve. Joseph de Maistre democracyleaderpeople To know how to wait. It is the great secret of success. Joseph de Maistre successpatiencemotivational 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. Joseph de Maistre powerlovemen Man's destructive hand spares nothing that lives; he kills to feed himself, he kills to clothe himself, he kills to adorn himself, he kills to attack, he kills to defend himself, he kills to instruct himself, he kills to amuse himself, he kills for the sake of killing. Joseph de Maistre lifedeathart All grandeur, all power, and all subordination to authority rests on the executioner: he is the horror and the bond of human association. Remove this incomprehensible agent from the world and at that very moment order gives way to chaos, thrones topple and society disappears. Joseph de Maistre thronesgivingorder The great fault in women is to desire to be like men. Joseph de Maistre womenfaultsdesire False opinions are like false money, struck first of all by guilty men and thereafter circulated by honest people who perpetuate the crime without knowing what they are doing. Joseph de Maistre moneyknowingmen What is needed is not a revolution in the opposite direction, but the opposite of a revolution. Joseph de Maistre revolutionneededopposites 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. Joseph de Maistre taught-usrealphilosophy Man in general, if reduced to himself, is too wicked to be free. Joseph de Maistre wickedfreedommen It is not the mediocrity of women's education which makes their weakness; it is their weakness which necessarily causes their mediocrity. Joseph de Maistre mediocrityweaknesseducation It is one of man's curious idiosyncrasies to create difficulties for the pleasure of resolving them. Joseph de Maistre gamblingcreativitymen I do not know what the heart of a rascal may be, but I know what is in the heart of an honest man; it is horrible. Joseph de Maistre heartmaymen A constitution that is made for all nations is made for none. Joseph de Maistre constitutionnationsmade Every individual or national degeneration is immediately revealed by a directly proportional degradation in language. Joseph de Maistre degradationindividuallanguage Christianity was preached by ignorant men and believed by servants, and that is why it resembles nothing ever known. Joseph de Maistre menphilosophyart It can even come about that a created will cancels out, not perhaps the exertion, but the result of divine action; for in this sense, God himself has told us that God wishes things which do not happen because man does not wish them! Thus the rights of men are immense, and his greatest misfortune is to be unaware of them. Joseph de Maistre rightswishmen 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. Joseph de Maistre afterlifeeyemen All pain is a punishment, and every punishment is inflicted for love as much as for justice. Joseph de Maistre punishmentpainlove
