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

March 26, 2025
The louder he talked of his honour, the faster we counted our spoons.
March 27, 2025
[On David Steel, Leader of the Liberal Party] He’s passed from rising hope to elder statesman without any intervening period whatsoever.
February 5, 2025
Think much, speak little, write less.
Page 61 of 63