Paul W. Schroeder > Quotes

“Metternich employed two of his favorite devices in his attempt to meet the danger of anarchy and revolution toward which he insisted the current ministry was leading France. Through private correspondence with Decazes, he tried to convince the supple French premier that unless France altered her press and election laws in a conservative direction and otherwise imitated the policies of the Carlsbad decrees, the monarchy of Louis XVIII was doomed.”
― Paul W. Schroeder, Metternich's Diplomacy at its Zenith, 1820-1823: Austria and the Congresses of Troppau, Laibach, and Verona

“Little need be said here on the vexed question of the future of Charles Albert, Prince of Carignan, and on the plan of Charles Felix, aided and encouraged by Francis IV, Duke of Modena, to set aside the Prince in the order of succession in favor of his infant son, Victor Emmanuel II.”
― Paul W. Schroeder, Metternich's Diplomacy at its Zenith, 1820-1823: Austria and the Congresses of Troppau, Laibach, and Verona

“The King, once free, will have to assure the future of his Kingdom. He must to this effect, a) Consult the true needs of his country. These needs are composed, at Naples as everywhere else, of the strong and sustained action of the government and of guarantees which institutions suitable to the national character can offer, guarantees suitable at once to prevent the authority of government from going astray and the subjects from infringing on the authority. b) Establish and regulate the form of his administration in a way which would not be in opposition to the internal tranquillity of neighboring states.”
― Paul W. Schroeder, Metternich's Diplomacy at its Zenith, 1820-1823: Austria and the Congresses of Troppau, Laibach, and Verona

“The good which proceeds from a false basis (and such a case can happen in times of upheaval) is a very real evil for the entire society. It encourages the factious, not in this respect, that they search for the good, but rather because the deceitful appeal of that good delivers over to them virtuous men and makes them their accomplices.”
― Paul W. Schroeder, Metternich's Diplomacy at its Zenith, 1820-1823: Austria and the Congresses of Troppau, Laibach, and Verona

“Metternich objected to all such constitutions not merely because they were representative, and hence incompatible with absolutism, but also because they were national, and thus incompatible with the structure of the Austrian Empire. A national constitution, Metternich believed, would be the death of Austria.”
― Paul W. Schroeder, Metternich's Diplomacy at its Zenith, 1820-1823: Austria and the Congresses of Troppau, Laibach, and Verona

“Some men steal horses to great applause, while other are hanged for looking over the fence.”
― Paul W. Schroeder, Stealing Horses to Great Applause: The Origins of the First World War Reconsidered