Quotes Library

March 4, 2025

Every country has the government it deserves.

Joseph de Maistre (1753-1821), French writer, diplomat. Letter, 15 August 1811, Jay p.248

Do your constituents—those who elected you, deserve you? More importantly, do you deserve their vote?

Like “the survival of the fittest”, this is a tautology, as it tells us nothing. Who survives? The fittest. Who are the fittest? Those who survive. What does every country get? The government it deserves. What does it deserve? The government it got. It’s useless drivel, masquerading as “deep thought”.


More Quotes

February 23, 2025
One of the greatest pieces of good fortune a man can have is the chance to make something he has done in his own
February 7, 2025
I will govern according to the common weal [meaning welfare], but not according to the common will.
May 2, 2025
Conservative, n. A statesman who is enamoured of existing evils, as distinguished from the Liberal
Page 1 of 63