Benjamin Constant Quotes & Sayings

A government that spoke of military glory as an aim would betray ignorance of, or contempt for, the spirit of nations and the age. It would be an error by a thousand years. Even if it should initially succeed, it would be interesting to see who in the end would win this odd wager, our own century or the offending government. — Benjamin Constant

There is a bizarre notion according to which it is claimed that because men are corrupt, it is necessary to give certain of them all the more power ... on the contrary, they must be given less power. — Benjamin Constant

The actions of government, we are told, bear down only on imprudent souls who provoke them. The man who resigns himself and keeps silent is always safe. Reassured by this worthless and specious argument, we do not protest against the oppressors. Instead we find fault with the victims. Nobody knows how to be brave even prudentially. Everyone stays silent, keeping his head low in the self-deceiving hope of disarming the powers that be by his silence. People give despotism free access, flattering themselves they will be treated with consideration. Eyes to the ground, each person walks in silence the narrow path leading him safely to the tomb. — Benjamin Constant

Woe to the man who in the first moments of a love-affair does not believe that it will last forever! Woe to him who even in the arms of some mistress who has just yielded to him maintains an awareness of trouble to come and foresees that he may later tear himself away! — Benjamin Constant

I detest that fatuity of mind which believes that what is explained is also excused; I hate that vanity which finds it interesting to describe the harm that it has done, and asks to be pitied at the end of its recital, and, as it patrols with impunity among the ruins for which it is responsible, gives to self-analysis the time which should be given to repentance. — Benjamin Constant

No duty, however, binds us to these so-called laws, whose corrupting influence menaces what is noblest in our being ... — Benjamin Constant

Nearly always, so as to live at peace with ourselves, we disguise our own impotence and weakness as calculation and policy; it is our way of placating that half of our being which is in a sense a spectator of the other. — Benjamin Constant

Political liberty involves every citizen without exception in the examination and study of his most sacred interest. It aggrandizes the spirit, ennobles the mind, and establishes among all of them a sort of intellectual quality which makes for a people who are both glorious and powerful. — Benjamin Constant

If political authority is not limited, the division of powers, ordinarily the guarantee of freedom, becomes a danger and a scourge. — Benjamin Constant

It is true that love is a feeling one places, whenever one feels the need of placing it, on the first object that happens along — Benjamin Constant

There are things one does not say for a long time, but, once they are said, one never stops repeating them. — Benjamin Constant

The people who, in order to enjoy the liberty which suites them, resort to the representative system, must exercise an active and constant surveillance over their representatives, and reserve for themselves ... the right to discard them if they betray their trust, and to revoke the powers which them might have abused. — Benjamin Constant

We are such volatile creatures, we finally feel sentiments we feign — Benjamin Constant

The great question in life is the suffering we cause, and the most ingenious metaphysics do not justify the man who has broken the heart that loved him. — Benjamin Constant

Every time government attempts to handle our affairs, it costs more and the results are worse than if we had handled them ourselves. — Benjamin Constant

Art for art's sake, with no purpose, for any purpose perverts art. But art achieves a purpose which is not its own. (1804) — Benjamin Constant