Joseph de Maistre Quotes on Knowledge
Joseph-Marie, Count de Maistre, was a Savoyard lawyer, diplomat, and political philosopher and one of the most powerful counter-Enlightenment voices of the early nineteenth century. This page collects quotes attributed to Joseph de Maistre on the topic of knowledge, drawn from across the philosopher's works.
Quotes
-
Attributed to Joseph de Maistre:
“Reason cannot govern the world; only authority can.”
-
“To know the nature of man, the most direct and wisest way undoubtedly is to know what he has always been. Since when can theories be opposed to facts? History is experimental politics; this is the best or rather the only good politics.”
p. 21 -
“Nations are barbarian in their infancy but not savage. The barbarian is a proportional mean between the savage and the citizen. He already possesses no end of knowledge: he has habitations, some agriculture, domestic animals, laws, a cult, regular tribunals; he lacks only the sciences .”
p. 25 -
“Burke said with a depth that it is impossible to admire enough that art is man’s nature : yes, undoubtedly, man with all his affections, all his knowledge, all his arts, is truly the man of nature, and the weaver’s web is as natural as the spider’s.”
p. 52