John II of France

If good faith were banished from the world, it ought to find asylum in the hearts of kings.

John II (French: Jean; 26 April 1319 – 8 April 1364), called the Good (le Bon), was King of France from 1350 until his death in 1364. Defeated and captured by the English at the Battle of Poitiers on 19 September 1356, France was forced to pay a huge ransom and accept the Treaty of Brétigny.

Disputed

• Si la bonne foi était bannie du reste du monde, il fallait qu’on la trouvât dans la bouche des rois.
  • If good faith were banished from the rest of the world, it should be found in the mouth of kings.
  • The answer he gave his council, when dissuaded from returning to England after the escape of his son, the Duke of Anjou, whom Edward III held as a hostage. Froissart, however, gives an entirely different answer,—that he had found the king of England, the queen, and their children, so courteous and honorable, that he trusted entirely to their loyalty. According to another version, King John returned in order to see again the beautiful Countess of Salisbury. The same sentiment, in nearly similar terms, is attributed to another royal captive, Francis I: "If fidelity were lost, it should be found in the heart of a king."—Édouard Fournier, L'Esprit dans l’Histoire, 5th ed. (Paris, 1883) p. 113, note (citing Balthasar Gracián, note to L’Homme de cour, trans. Amelot de la Houssaye, p. 202): «que si la fidélité se perdoit, elle devoit se retrouver dans le cœur d'un roi.»). Reported in S. A. Bent, ed. Familiar Short Sayings of Great Men (Boston, MA: Ticknor and Co, 1882) p. 291
    • Variants:
    • If honour were banished from the earth, it should still find an asylum in the hearts of kings.
      • "Comparative Skill and Industry of France and England" [Review of Jean-Antoine Chaptal, De l'Industrie Française, 2 vols. 8vo. Paris, 1819] in The Edinburgh Review; or, Critical Journal, vol. 32, no. 64 (Oct. 1819) p. 584
    • If good faith were banished from the world, it ought to find asylum in the hearts of kings.
      • François Guizot, trans. Robert Black, A Popular History of France, from the Earliest Times, vol. 2 (Boston, MA: Dana Estes and Charles E. Lauriat, 1869) ch. 22