Klemens Metternich Quotes & Sayings

The word 'freedom' means for me not a point of departure but a genuine point of arrival. The point of departure is defined by the word 'order.' Freedom cannot exist without the concept of order. — Klemens Von Metternich

Error has never approached my spirit. — Klemens Von Metternich

Any plan conceived in moderation must fail when the circumstances are set in extremes. — Klemens Von Metternich

When Paris has a cold, all Europe sneezes. — Klemens Von Metternich

Stability is not immobility. — Klemens Von Metternich

I have never feared that the revolution would be engendered by the universities; but that at them a whole generation of revolutionaries must be formed, unless the evil is restrained, seems to me certain ... The greatest and consequently most urgent evil now is the press ... All journals, pamphlets in Germany must be under a censorship. — Klemens Von Metternich

I came into the world either too early or too late; at present, I am good for nothing. — Klemens Von Metternich

The men who make history have not time to write it. — Klemens Von Metternich

Ten million ignorances do not constitute one knowledge. — Klemens Von Metternich

Italy is only a geographical expression. — Klemens Von Metternich

Men like M. de Talleyrand are like sharp instruments with which it is dangerous to play. — Klemens Von Metternich

It is useless to close the gates against ideas; they overlap them. — Klemens Von Metternich

The obvious is always least understood. — Klemens Von Metternich

The word 'Italy' is a geographical expression, a description which is useful shorthand, but has none of the political significance the efforts of the revolutionary ideologues try to put on it, and which is full of dangers for the very existence of the states which make up the peninsula. — Klemens Von Metternich

In Europe democracy is a falsehood. I do not know where it will end, but it cannot end in a quiet old age. — Klemens Von Metternich

The events which can not be prevented, must be directed. — Klemens Von Metternich