Tag Archives: Joseph de Maistre

It is one of man's curious idiosyncrasies to create difficulties for the pleasure of resolving them. 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. Joseph de Maistre

There is no philosophy without the art of ignoring objections. Joseph de Maistre

Man in harmony with his Creator is sublime, and his action is creative; equally, once he separates himself from God and acts alone, he does not cease to be powerful, since this is the privilege of his nature, but his acts are negative and lead only to destruction. Joseph de Maistre

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

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

A constitution that is made for all nations is made for none. Joseph de Maistre

Without doubt, God is the universal moving force, but each being is moved according to the nature that God has given it. Joseph de Maistre

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

Man, in spite of his fatal degradation, bears always the evident marks of his divine origin, in that every universal belief is always more or less true. Joseph de Maistre