Cardinal Richelieu
Cardinal Richelieu
Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal-Duke of Richelieu and of Fronsac, commonly referred to as Cardinal Richelieuʁiʃljø]), was a French clergyman, nobleman, and statesman. He was consecrated as a bishop in 1607 and was appointed Foreign Secretary in 1616. Richelieu soon rose in both the Catholic Church and the French government, becoming a cardinal in 1622, and King Louis XIII's chief minister in 1624. He remained in office until his death in 1642; he was succeeded by Cardinal Mazarin, whose career...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionReligious Leader
Date of Birth9 September 1585
CityParis, France
CountryFrance
First, all means to conciliate; failing that, all means to crush.
I do not sleep to let others sleep in the shade of my waking.
Did you think I was immortal?
To know how to disguise is the knowledge of kings.
Not the least of the qualities that go into the making of a great ruler is the ability of letting others serve him.
Wise judges are we of each other!
I have the consolation of leaving your kingdom in the highest degree of glory and of reputation.
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.
Reason must be the universal rule and guide; all things must be done according to reason without allowing oneself to be swayed by emotion.
Who will be my equal?
To know how to dissemble is the knowledge of kings. [Fr., Savoir dissimuler est le savoir des rois.]
Nothing so upholds the laws as the punishment of persons whose rank is as great as their crime.
Never write a letter and never destroy one.
Give me six lines written by the most honorable person alive, and I shall find enough in them to condemn them to the gallows.