Jean-Jacques Burlamaqui Quotes

There is a general rule, which includes all the duties of a sovereign, and by which he may easily judge how to proceed under every circumstance. Let the safety of the people be the supreme law.

A prince must, above all things, accustom himself to moderate his desires. For as he has the power of gratifying them, if he once gives way to them, he will run to the greatest excess, and, by destroying his subjects, will at last complete his own ruin. In order to form himself to this moderation, nothing is more proper, than to accustom himself to patience. This is the most necessary of all virtues for those, who are to command. A man must be patient to become master of himself and others.

The first general duty of princes is carefully to inform themselves of every thing, that falls under the complete discharge of their trust; for a person cannot well acquit himself in that, which he has not first rightly learnt.

The principal end a prince was made for is to take care, that every one should have his rights. This ought to engage him to study not only the science of those great civilians, who ascend to the first principles of law, which regulate human society, and are the basis as it were of government and politics; but also that part of the law, which descends to the affairs of particular persons. This branch is generally left for the gentlemen of the long robe, and not admitted into the education of princes, though they are every day to pass judgment upon the fortunes, liberties, lives, honor, and reputation of their subjects. Princes are continually talked to of valour and liberality; but if justice do not regulate these two qualities, they degenerate into the most odious vices. Without justice valour does nothing but destroy; and liberality is only a foolish profuseness. Justice keeps all in order, and contains within bounds him, who distributes it, as well as those, to whom it is distributed.

We must endure the luxury and avarice of sovereigns, as we endure the barrenness of a soil, storms, and other inconveniences of nature. There will be vices as long as there are men; but these are not continual, and are recompensed by the intermixture of better qualities

Persons in high situations must particularly guard themselves against selfishness and vanity. An individual in a high and important situation will easily see a great many persons eager to please the first, and to flatter and encourage the last.

Obsequiousness begets friends, truth hatred.

We swallow greedily any lie that flatters us, but we sip only little by little at a truth we find bitter.

You want me to tell me the truth or do you want me to stroke you?

The more famous you become, the less people will tell you your faults.

You've got to have an ego as big as Mars to want to think that you, of all people, are better than anyone else to be president of the United States. People that vain, they want their place in history, and they want to be able to control how much they'll be worshipped by future generations.

In whatever adulation you get, there's truth and there's not truth. And wherever they dog you, and they say it was horrible - there's truth and there's not truth. It's human nature to like to read the adulation more.

They say Princes learn no art truly, but the art of horsemanship. The reason is, the brave beast is no flatterer. He will throw a prince as soon as his groom.

Personalist regimes mute factional differences the most .... Dictators usually retain the loyalty of elites through some combination of coercion, personal favors, and material rewards. Elites are frequently rotated or jailed to avoid factionalism. The military is usually a depersonalized instrument for the dictator's power, holding no sense of independent institutional identity. Divisions between so-called hard-liners and soft-liners are virtually non-existent...

He is the best of men who dislikes power.

Flattery makes friends and truth makes enemies

Men are very much to be pitied in that they are to be governed by a king who is but a man like them; for it would require Gods to reform men. But kings are not less to be pitied, since being but men, that are weak and imperfect, they are to govern this innumerable multitude of corrupt and deceitful men.

You didn’t elect me to tell you what you wanted to hear. You elected me to tell you the truth.

The Truth, when you finally chase it down, is almost always far worse than your darkest visions and fears.

As a President, you need to have someone around you who can tell you that you are wrong.

It is hard on any man to see the eyes of everyone turn to another person as the eyes of the entire country are turned to [Theodore] Roosevelt.

The time has come to stop telling the American people only what they want them to hear, and start talking frankly about the sacrifices we must all make.

Mankind naturally and generally love to be flattered.

when greed and fear are linked to power, you have a dangerous mix. We see that in political life. In part of the world, the mix of greed and fear means that those who get power become reluctant to give it back. One of the many things I like and admire in our democracies are the norms that make our leaders hand over power when voters tell them to

There is nothing which so poisons princes as flattery, nor anything whereby wicked men more easily obtain credit and favor with them.