“There is nothing but violence in the universe; but we are spoiled by a modern philosophy that tells us all is good, whereas evil has tainted everything, and in a very real sense, all is evil, since nothing is in its place. The keynote of the system of our creation has been lowered, and following the rules of harmony, all the others have been lowered proportionally. All creation groans, and tends with pain and effort towards another order of things.
The spectators of great human calamities, especially, are led to these sad meditations. But let us not lose courage: there is no chastisement that does not purify; there is no disorder that ETERNAL LOVE does not turn against the principle of evil. It is gratifying amid the general upheaval to have a presentiment of the plans of Divinity. We will never see the complete picture during our earthly sojourn, and often we will deceive ourselves: but in all possible sciences, except the exact sciences, are we not reduced to conjecture? And if our conjectures are plausible, if there are analogies for them, if they are based on universally accepted ideas, above all if they are consoling and suited to make us better men, what do they lack? If they are not true, they are good; or rather, since they are good, are they not true?”
Joseph de Maistre
Considerations on France — p. 31
The first paragraph could be easily said in a sermon on the Fall and / or on the nature of man.
The second paragraph could be easily said in a sermon on God’s sovereignty or on God’s providence or on God’s Governance.
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“But a constitution which is made for all nations is made for none: it is a pure abstraction, a school exercise whose purpose is to exercise the mind in accordance with a hypothetical ideal…What is a constitution? Is it not the solution to the following problem: to find the laws that are fitting for a particular nation, given its population, its customs, its religion, its geographical situation, its political relations, its wealth, and its good and bad qualities?”
Joseph de Maistre
18th Century Kinist
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“We brand someone who steals one centime from his friend’s pocket; if he steals only his friends wife, it is nothing. Brilliant crimes involving great or likable qualities, especially when they are rewarded by success, are pardoned or even admired.”
Joseph de Maistre
Considerations on France — p. 10
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“When a philosopher justifies evil by the glorious end in view, when he says in his heart, ‘Let there be a hundred thousand murders, provided we are free,’ and Providence replies, ‘I accept your offer, but you must be included in the number,’ where is the injustice when that is exactly what happens?”
Joseph de Maistre
Considerations On France — p. 10
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“Every nation, like every individual has received a mission that it must fulfill.”
Joseph de Maistre
Considerations on France — p. 9
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“We are all attached to the throne of the Supreme Being by a supple chain that restrains us without enslaving us. Nothing is more admirable in the universal order of things than the action of free being under the divine hand. Freely slaves, they act voluntarily and necessarily at the same time; they really do what they will, but without being able to disturb the general plans. Each of these being occupies the center of a sphere of activity whose diameter varies according to the will of the Eternal Geometer, who can extend, restrict, check or direct the will without altering the nature.”
Joseph de Maistre
Considerations On France — p. 3
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“In a word we can say that blood is the manure of the plant we call genius.”
Joseph de Maistre
Considerations on France — p. 29
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“I have seen Frenchmen, Italians, Russians … I know, too, thanks to Montesquieu, that one can be a Persian. But as for man, I declare that I have never met him in my life; if he exists, he is unknown to me.”
Joseph de Maistre
As Kinist a statement as one can find.
The first quote put me in mind of a devoir written by Emily Bronte called ‘The Butterfly’.