“We wish in our country that morality may be substituted for egotism, probity for false honour, principles for usages, duties for good manners, the empire of reason for the tyranny of fashion, a contempt of vice for a contempt of misfortune, pride for insolence, magnanimity for vanity, the love of glory for the love of money, good people for good company, merit for intrigue, genius for wit, truth for tinsel show, the attractions of happiness for the ennui of sensuality, the grandeur of man for the littleness of the great, a people magnanimous, powerful, happy, for a people amiable, frivolous and miserable; in a word, all the virtues and miracles of a Republic instead of all the vices and absurdities of a Monarchy.”

Principles to Form the Basis of the Administration of the Republic (February 1794)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Aug. 13, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "We wish in our country that morality may be substituted for egotism, probity for false honour, principles for usages, d…" by Maximilien Robespierre?

Maximilien Robespierre78

French revolutionary lawyer and politician 1758–1794

Related quotes

“Pride that dines on vanity sups on contempt.”

Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) American author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, …

“Herein is not only a great vanity, but a great contempt of God's gifts, that the sweetness of man's breath, being a good gift of God, should be willfully corrupted by this stinking smoke.”

James I of England (1566–1625) king during union of English and Scottish crowns

A Counterblaste to Tobacco (1604)

“The civilized classes and nations are swept away by the grand rush for contemptible wealth. Never was the world worldlier, never was it emptier of love and goodness.”

Friedrich Nietzsche Untimely Meditations

Die gebildeten Stände und Staaten werden von einer großartig verächtlichen Geldwirtschaft fortgerissen. Niemals war die Welt mehr Welt, nie ärmer an Liebe und Güte.
“Schopenhauer as educator,” § 3.4
Untimely Meditations (1876)

“For years I thought that what was good for our country was good for General Motors, and vice versa. The difference did not exist. Our company is too big. It goes with the welfare of the country. Our contribution to the nation is considerable.”

Charles Erwin Wilson (1890–1961) American secretary of Defence

Charles E. Wilson (1952) in: Confirmation hearings before the Senate Armed Services Committee, responding to Sen. Robert Hendrickson's question regarding conflicts of interest. Quoted in Safire's Political Dictionary (1978) by William Safire.

“Some have made the love of God the foundation of morality. This, too, is but a branch of our moral duties, which are generally divided into duties to God and duties to man. If we did a good act merely from the love of God and a belief that it is pleasing to Him, whence arises the morality of the Atheist? It is idle to say, as some do, that no such being exists. We have the same evidence of the fact as of most of those we act on, to-wit: their own affirmations, and their reasonings in support of them. I have observed, indeed, generally, that while in protestant countries the defections from the Platonic Christianity of the priests is to Deism, in catholic countries they are to Atheism. Diderot, D'Alembert, D'Holbach, Condorcet, are known to have been among the most virtuous of men. Their virtue, then, must have had some other foundation than the love of God.”

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America

Letter to Thomas Law (13 June 1814)
1810s

“Good-breeding is opposed to selfishness, vanity, or pride.”

Thomas Jackson (1824–1863) Confederate general

Misattributed, Jackson's personal book of maxims
Context: Good-breeding is opposed to selfishness, vanity, or pride. Never weary your company by talking too long or too frequently.

“Our business philosophy is the four C’s. We do business in a way that is Good for the Community, Good for the Country, Good for the Climate, and only then will it be Good for the Company.”

Sukanto Tanoto (1949) Indonesian businessman

Speech, World Economic Forum Davos 2016. http://www.inside-rge.com/Sukanto-Tanoto-Fourth-C-WEF-Davos <br class="br">2016

“Manner is all in all, whate'er is writ,
The substitute for genius, sense, and wit.”

William Cowper (1731–1800) (1731–1800) English poet and hymnodist

Source: Table Talk (1782), Line 542.

“I am so pleased with all the good work you are doing for world peace and for people in so many countries. May we continue to work together and to share together all for the glory of God and for the good of man.”

Matka Tereza (1910–1997) Roman Catholic saint of Albanian origin

To Sri Chinmoy, as quoted in The Wings of Joy : Finding Your Path to Inner Peace (1997) by Sri Chinmoy
1990s

“Bad principles are not a good substitute for no principles.”

Michael Kinsley (1951) American political journalist, commentator television host

Donald Trump is actually a fascist (December 9, 2016)
Context: If I’m correct that Trump actually has a governing philosophy, that’s a bad thing, not a good thing. If he actually has principles to guide him through those famous swamps he plans to drain, that’s alarming, not reassuring. Bad principles are not a good substitute for no principles. Four or eight years of bad principles may make no principles look pretty good.

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Maximilien Robespierre78

Related quotes

Related topics