Everything begins in mysticism and ends in politics.

Charles Péguy’s aphorism is typically situated in his early-20th-century reflections on modern France, where spiritual or moral impulses—religious faith, ideals of justice, patriotic devotion—were repeatedly absorbed by party politics and bureaucratic maneuvering. Writing in the wake of the Dreyfus Affair and amid the hardening of ideological camps, Péguy (a onetime socialist who returned to Catholic inspiration) lamented how movements that begin as inward, “mystical” commitments tend to be institutionalized, professionalized, and ultimately reduced to political strategy. The line is often cited as part of his broader critique of modernity’s tendency to convert living convictions into administrative or partisan programs.

Péguy’s aphorism suggests a recurring historical pattern: movements and ideas often originate in an intense, inward, quasi-religious “mysticism” (a lived conviction, moral fervor, or spiritual intuition) and, over time, harden into “politics” (institutions, parties, programs, power struggles). The line can be read as both descriptive and critical. It laments how original inspiration—whether religious faith, revolutionary idealism, or ethical passion—gets translated into bureaucratic routines and strategic compromises. At the same time, it implies that politics is not born ex nihilo; it feeds on deeper sources of meaning. The quote is frequently invoked to explain the institutionalization and eventual disenchantment of reformist or spiritual projects.