JACQUES BENIGNE BOSSUET

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.

O kings, exercise your power then boldly, for it is divine and salutary for human kind, but exercise it with humility. You are endowed with it from without. At bottom it leaves you feeble, it leaves you mortal, it leaves you sinners, and charges you before God with a very heavy account.

The world itself makes us sick of the world.

Well-meant ignorance is a grievous calamity in high places.

Truth is a queen who has her eternal throne in heaven, and her seat of empire in the heart of God.

The greatest of all weaknesses is the fear of appearing weak.

Every error is truth abused.

The worst derangement of the spirit is to believe things because we want them to be so, not because we have seen them for what they are.

Only great souls know the grandeur there is in charity.

To know one's self, one must go all the way to horror.

The prince must employ his authority to destroy false religions in his state.

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.

O kings, exercise your power then boldly, for it is divine and salutary for human kind, but exercise it with humility. You are endowed with it from without. At bottom it leaves you feeble, it leaves you mortal, it leaves you sinners, and charges you before God with a very heavy account.

The world itself makes us sick of the world.

To know one's self, one must go all the way to horror.

The greatest weakness of all weaknesses is to fear too much to appear weak.

Honor is like the eye, which cannot suffer the least impurity without damage. It is a precious stone, the price of which is lessened by a single flaw.

Every error is truth abused.

The spirit of the world encloses four kinds of spirits, diametrically opposed to charity--the spirit of resentment, spirit of aversion, spirit of jealousy and the spirit of indifference.

In the midst of the disguises and artifices that reign among men, it is only attention and vigilance that can save us from surprises.

O death! We thank you for the light that you will shed upon our ignorance.

Only great souls know the grandeur there is in charity.

The worst derangement of the spirit is to believe things because we want them to be so, not because we have seen them for what they are.

The inexorable boredom that is at the core of life.

Well-meant ignorance is a grievous calamity in high places.

The greatest of all weaknesses is the fear of appearing weak.

Truth is a queen who has her eternal throne in heaven, and her seat of empire in the heart of God.