Best 26 quotes of Cardinal Richelieu on MyQuotes

A single word has sometimes lost or won an empire.

A virtuous and well-disposed person, like a good metal, the more he is fired, the more he is fined; the more he is opposed, the more he is approved: wrongs may well try him, and touch him, but cannot imprint in him any false stamp.

Bakers of bread rolls and pastry cooks will not buy grain before eleven o'clock in winter and noon in summer; bakers of large loaves will not buy grain before two o'clock. This will enable the people of the town to obtain their supply first. Bakers shall put a distinctive trademark on their loaves, and keep weights and scales in their shops, under penalty of having their licenses removed.

Bakers of bread rolls and pastry cooks will not buy grain before eleven o'clock in winter and noon in summer.

Deception is the knowledge of kings.

Did you think I was immortal?

First, all means to conciliate; failing that, all means to crush.

Give me six lines written by the most honorable person alive, and I shall find enough in them to condemn them to the gallows.

Harshness towards individuals who flout the laws and commands of the state is for the public good; no greater crime against the public interest is possible than to show leniency to those who violate it.

I do not sleep to let others sleep in the shade of my waking.

If God forbade drinking, would He have made wine so good?

If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him.

I have the consolation of leaving your kingdom in the highest degree of glory and of reputation.

Never write a letter and never destroy one.

Nothing is as dangerous for the state as those who would govern kingdoms with maxims found in books.

Not the least of the qualities that go into the making of a great ruler is the ability of letting others serve him.

One must believe neither the people of the palace, who ordinarily measure the power of the king by the shape of his crown, which, being round, has no end, nor those who, in the excesses of an indiscreet zeal, proclaim themselves openly as partisans of Rome.

Reason must be the universal rule and guide; all things must be done according to reason without allowing oneself to be swayed by emotion.

To know how to disguise is the knowledge of kings.

To know how to dissemble is the knowledge of kings. [Fr., Savoir dissimuler est le savoir des rois.]

To mislead a rival, deception is permissable; one may use all means against his enemies.

War is one of the scourges with which it has pleased God to afflict men.

We may employ artifice to deceive a rival, anything against our enemies.

When people are too comfortable, it is not possible to restrain them within the bounds of their duty? They may be compared to mules who, being accustomed to burdens, are spoilt by rest rather than labour.

Wise judges are we of each other!

Man is immortal, his salvation is hereafter, The state has no immortality, its salvation is now or never