Joseph De Maistre (1753-1821) quotes

• A constitution that is made for all nations is made for none.
• All pain is a punishment, and every punishment is inflicted for love as much as for justice.
• Every country has the government it deserves.
• If there was no more evil upon earth, there would be no physical evil.
• It is one of man's curious idiosyncrasies to create difficulties for the pleasure of resolving them.
• Man in general, if reduced to himself, is too wicked to be free.
• 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.
• There is no philosophy without the art of ignoring objections.
• Wherever an altar is found, there civilization exists.