Jacques Benigne Bossuet Quotes

Kings and rulers stand in the place of God on earth, and it is through them, as secondary causes, that God exercises governance over the world.

Know all inhabitants of earth, that vain and trivial is the power of kings nor is anyone worthy of the name of king save Him whose nod heaven and earth obey under laws eternal.

I know the title of a King is a glorious title, but assure yourself that the shining glory of princely authority hath not so dazzled the eyes of our understanding, but that we well know and remember that we also are to yield an account of our actions before the Great Judge.

Fear created gods; boldness created kings.

Rulers should always remind themselves that they are men like the least of their subjects.

I do not call majesty that pomp which surrounds kings or that exterior magnificence which dazzles the vulgar. That is but the reflection of majesty and not majesty itself. Majesty is the image of the grandeur of God in the prince.

When I ordered my royal penitent to do or to leave undone anything, under penalty of mortal sin, I was obeyed;

Kings scarcely recognize themselves as mortals, scarcely understand that which pertains to man, except on the day they are made king or on the day they die. On the former day they feign humility and gentleness, in the hope of capturing the voice of the people. On the latter, having death before their eyes, they confess what is a fact, namely that they are wretchedly mortal.

Queens perhaps perform better in the role of monarch because they never take their position for granted. Many kings have failed because they believed that the public would love them whatever they did. Queens knew better.

Power without abuse loses its charm.

To be a king and wear a crown is a thing more glorious to them that see it than it is pleasant to them that bear it.

What are kings, when regiment is gone, but perfect shadows in a sunshine day?

It is a universal and fundamental political principle that the power to protect can safely be confided only to those interested in protecting, or their responsible agents - a maxim not less true in private than in public affairs.

The best people to have power are the ones who don't want it.

I am the guardian of power, not its owner.

Let every person be obedient to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. ... the authority does not bear the sword in vain! It is the servant of God to execute wrath on the wrongdoer

Rulers come and go; governments end and forms of government change; but sovereignty survives.

No one is king by his own power.

Political power, considered in general, not descending in particular to monarchy, aristocracy, or democracy, comes directly from God alone.

I am only the Security Council's servant, though not always its humble one.

All empire is no more than power in trust.

I have no right to be a king, but I have the right to create a king.

It is atheism and blasphemy to dispute what God can do; so it is presumption and contempt to dispute what a king can do, or say that a king cannot do this or that.

Even an infant king must not be despised from an idea that he is a mere mortal; for he is a great deity in human form.

[There] are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time; and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity and the other the divine right of kings.