Quotes by Bertrand De Jouvenel, Sovereignty

“The idea so commonly found that scepticism leads to toleration arises from considering the effects of scepticism in the intellectual who takes no active part - not its effects in the man of action....”

“The entire stock of relationships which suited in warmilitiaewas regarded as inadmissible and improper in peacedomi. We have the measure of how right the Romans were in this respect in the experien...”

“These observations bring out the fact that, whenever liberty is regarded merely as the power to do something which it is desired to do, the tyrant need only base himself on the desires of the masse...”

“The modern absolutism, which we find the most natural thing in the world, would have been quite beyond the dreams of the most absolute of kings.”

“Rejoicing in his absolute authority, the single egoist will exploit it methodically, whereas a mle of egoists will bring about a ruinous disorder and a disastrous cleavage, because the contrariety ...”

“It is as futile and dangerous to aim at making of society one large family, as sentimental socialism seeks to do, as to aim at making of it one large team, as positivist socialism seeks to do.”

“Of all the simplifications to which the human spirit naturally inclines, unable to reconcile itself to the complexity of the real, there is none more dangerous than the attempt to integrate the who...”

“The man who has dedicated himself to the success of the protect, the master builder, no longer has any freedom: his conduct is now determined altogether by the constraining force of the end. Logica...”

“The law of all modern states takes account of associations, whose members, in theory, pursue the common end with equal zeal. The experience of all associations proves, however, that this is not the...”

“The more routine that systematised activities are, the more nearly they are of the monotonous character seen in the habits of social animals and the less necessary are master builders; the more nov...”

“The entire stock of relationships which suited in war—militiae—was regarded as inadmissible and improper in peace—domi. We have the measure of how right the Romans were in this respect in the exper...”