QuotesCosmos
Lafayette, himself was a Roman Catholic and a considerably devout catholic in the later stages of his life, There seems to be no evidence that he might conceivably have said something translatable as this, the earliest source yet found for this is an anti-catholic pamphlet The Future Conflict : An Address, (1878), by Order of the American Union, p. 20, without any citation of original sources. It has also been quoted as: "If the liberties of the American people are ever destroyed, they will fall by the hands of the clergy."
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If the liberties of the American people are ever destroyed, they will fall by the hands of the Romish clergy.

— Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "If the liberties of the American people are ever destroyed, they will fall by the hands of the Romish clergy." in the context of "Lafayette, himself was a Roman Catholic and a considerably devout catholic in the later stages of his life, There seems to be no evidence that he might conceivably have said something translatable as this, the earliest source yet found for this is an anti-catholic pamphlet The Future Conflict : An Address, (1878), by Order of the American Union, p. 20, without any citation of original sources. It has also been quoted as: "If the liberties of the American people are ever destroyed, they will fall by the hands of the clergy."" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette" (Disputed) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app

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#Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette#liberties#destroyed#american#romish#clergy#hands#ever#fall

About Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette

Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), often referred to simply as Lafayette, was a French and American military officer and aristocrat who participated in the American Revolution as a general and served in the Estates General and the subsequent National Constituent Assembly in the early phases of the French Revolution.