All grandeur, all power, and all subordination to authority rests on the executioner: he is the horror and the bond of human association. Remove this incomprehensible agent from the world and at that very moment order gives way to chaos, thrones topple and society disappears.
Joseph de MaistreGenius does not seem to derive any great support from syllogisms. Its carriage is free; its manner has a touch of inspiration. We see it come, but we never see it walk.
Joseph de MaistreIt is one of man's curious idiosyncrasies to create difficulties for the pleasure of resolving them.
Joseph de Maistre