Quotes Library

May 12, 2025

Every time I create an appointment, I create a hundred malcontents and one ingrate.

Louis XIV (1638-1715), King of France, in Voltaire [François-Marie Arouet], Siècle de Louis XIV (1768 ed.) vol. 2, in Jay 232

What are the sources of any discontent on your part? Is it warranted? Or are you simply an ingrate?

Speaking from experience, I can assure you that the sole ingrate, vis-à-vis the one hundred malcontents, disturbs things to the same extent as the joy one repentant sinner provokes in heaven, vis-à-vis the ninety-nine who need no repentance.


More Quotes

December 18, 2025
When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other.
June 2, 2025
You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.
May 8, 2025
Diplomacy is about surviving till the next century—politics is about surviving till Friday afternoon.
Page 9 of 124