Inspirational Quotations

Inspirational Quotes by Cardinal Richelieu (French Cardinal, Statemesan)

Duc de Richelieu (1585–1642,) born Armand Jean du Plessis, known as Cardinal Richelieu was a French cardinal and statemesan. As chief minister of King Louis XIII (1624–42) he dominated French government. In 1635, he established the Académie Française.

Born into a noble but impoverished family near Paris, de Richelieu was consecrated as a bishop in 1607 and became Foreign Secretary in 1616. He rose in the Catholic Church and the French government, becoming a cardinal in 1622 and president of the council of ministers under Louis XIII of France in 1624. He was chief minister of France from 1629.

Seeking to establish centralized absolutism, Cardinal Richelieu opposed the feudal aristocracy and the Huguenots who were defeated at La Rochelle in 1628 and had their political privileges abolished. Abroad, de Richelieu allied himself with the Protestant German princes and Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden against the Emperor, thereby inhibiting the advancement of the Counter-Reformation in Germany. De Richelieu was the Abbot-General of Cluny from 1629 and facilitated reform of the Benedictine and other religious orders. He promoted the revival of religious practice and the training of priests.

Richelieu had substantial literary ambitions. His works include Instruction du chretien (1619) and Traite de la perfection du chretien (1646.) Modern biographies include William F Church’s Richelieu and Reason of State (1973,) D. P. O’Connell’s Richelieu (1968,) and C. V. Wedgwood’s Richelieu and the French Monarchy (1962.)

More: Wikipedia READ: Works by Cardinal Richelieu

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.
Cardinal Richelieu
Topics: Honesty

To know how to disguise is the knowledge of kings.
Cardinal Richelieu
Topics: Deception, Deception/Lying

Secrecy is the first essential in affairs of the State.
Cardinal Richelieu
Topics: Secrets

If God forbade drinking, would He have made wine so good?
Cardinal Richelieu
Topics: Wine, One liners

Give me six lines written by the most honorable person alive, and I shall find enough in them to condemn them to the gallows.
Cardinal Richelieu
Topics: Judgment, Judging, Judges

Carry on any enterprise as if all future success depended on it.
Cardinal Richelieu
Topics: Commitment

A truly virtuous person is like 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 they cannot imprint on him any false stamp.
Cardinal Richelieu
Topics: Trials

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