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

April 30, 2025
In Aristotelian terms, the good leader must have ethos, pathos and logos.
July 14, 2025
How can you govern a country that has 246 varieties of cheese?
January 31, 2025
It is we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; not yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the Union.
Page 66 of 122