Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I am the state.
I see no point in reading.
The Last Argument of Kings.
One king, one law, one faith.
It is legal because I wish it.
I am dying, but the state remains.
Laws are the sovereigns of sovereigns.
I am the State. [Fr., L'etat c'est moi.]
Impatience for victory guarantees defeat
It is impossible to please all the world.
Only small minds want always to be right.
Has God forgotten all I have done for Him.
First feelings are always the most natural.
Why do you weep? Did you think I was immortal?
Ah, if I were not king, I should lose my temper.
Has God forgotten everything I've done for him ?
I could sooner reconcile all Europe than two women.
Why are you weeping ? Did you imagine that I was immortal ?
There is little that can withstand a man who can conquer himself.
Every time I fill a vacant office, I make ten malcontents and one ingrate.
We can do all we wish while we live; afterward, we are less than the meanest.
Render to God what you owe him; recognize the obligations you are under to him.
That's what troubles me: I should like to suffer more for the expiation of my sins.
Heaven deprives me of a wife who never caused me any other grief than that of her death.
Every time I appoint someone to a vacant position, I make a hundred unhappy and one ungrateful.
My court was divided between peace and war according to their various interests, but I considered only their reasons.
I have made my will; I have been tormented to do it. I have bought repose; I know the powerlessness and inutility of it.
As for restitutions, to nobody in particular do I owe any, but as for those I owe to the realm, I hope in the mercy of God.
The years go by one after the other; time slips past us with out our being aware of it; we grow old like ordinary men and we shall end like them.
In every treaty, insert a clause which can easily be violated, so that the entire agreement can be broken in case the interests of the State make it expedient to do so.
The ministers of kings should learn to moderate their ambition. The higher they elevate themselves above their proper sphere, the greater the danger that they will fall.
My child, you are going to be a great king; do not imitate me in the taste I have had for building, or in that I have had for war; try, on the contrary, to be at peace with your neighbors.
You have only to see what became of my father's will immediately after his death, and the wills of so many other kings. I know it well; but nevertheless, they have wished it; they gave me no rest nor repose, no calm until it was done.
The King of Spain displayed his esteem for me in a manner that I confess flattered me pleasantly when, after the death of Don Luis de Haro, he stated publicly in front of all the foreign ambassadors that he wanted to follow my example in not having a prime minister any longer.
Up to this moment I have been pleased to entrust the government of my affairs to the late Cardinal. It is now time that I govern them myself. You [secretaries and ministers of state] will assist me with your counsels when I ask for them. I request and order you to seal no orders except by my command, . . . I order you not to sign anything, not even a passport . . . without my command; to render account to me personally each day and to favor no one.