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Genius 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 Maistre St. Petersburg Dialogues (1821)

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Intelligence

More quotes by Joseph de Maistre

The arts, in general, need a king; they only flourish under the influence of sceptres.

Against Rousseau (1795)

Religious beauty is superior to ideal beauty, since it is the ideal of the ideal.

An Examination of the Philosophy of Francis Bacon (1836)

It is always necessary to call men back to history, which is the first master in politics, or more exactly the only master.

Against Rousseau (1795)

Every nation gets the government it deserves.

A woman can only be superior as a woman; as soon as she wants to emulate man, she is nothing but an ape.

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Most intellectual people do not believe in God, but they fear him just the same.

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Innocence in genius, and candor in power, are both noble qualities.

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Like every 'intellectual', a philosophy teacher is a petty bourgeois. When he opens his mouth, it is petty-bourgeois ideology that speaks: its resources and ruses are infinite.

Louis Althusser Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays (1968)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Joseph de Maistre (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.