Cardinal Richelieu (born Armand Jean du Plessis) (1585 – 1642)
French clergyman, noble, and statesman.
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Secrecy is the first essential in affairs of state.
Had Luther and Calvin been confined before they had begun to dogmatize, the states would have been spared many troubles.
Pour tromper un rival l'artifice est permis; on peut tout employer contres ses ennemis.
Édouard Fournier, in L'Espirit dans l'Historie (1867), 3rd edition, Ch. 51, p. 260, disputes the traditional attribution, and suggests various agents of Richelieu might have been the actual author.
Give me six lines written by the most honest man, and I will find something there to hang him.
Give me six lines written by the most honest man in the world, and I will find enough in them to hang him.
Savoir dissimuler est le savoir des rois.
To mislead a rival, deception is permissible; one may use all means against his enemies.
If one would give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest man, I would find something in them to have him hanged.
Harshness towards individuals who flout the laws and commands of state is for the public good; no greater crime against the public interest is possible than to show leniency to those who violate it.
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