Joseph de Maistre: [A] Essay on the Generative Principle of Political Constitutions, 1810 10

One of the grand errors of an age, which professed them all, was, to believe that a political constitution could be written and created a priori; whilst reason and experience unite in establishing, that a constitution is a Divine work, and that which is most fundamental, and most essentially constitutional, in the laws of a nation, is precisely what cannot be written. The collection of fundamental laws, which must essentially constitute a civil or religious society, never has been written, and never will be, a priori. It is only when society finds itself already constituted, without being able to say how, that it is possible to make known, or explain, in writing, certain special articles; but in almost every case these declarations or explanations are the effect or cause of very great evils, and always cost the people more than they are worth.