17 Quotes by Klemens von Metternich

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

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.

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

The obvious is always least understood.

Stability is not immobility.

The men who make history have not time to write it.

Ten million ignorances do not constitute one knowledge.

Italy is only a geographical expression.

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.