Together with the Anglo-Irish statesman and philosopher Edmund Burke, Maistre is commonly regarded as one of the founders of European conservatism, but since the 19th century Maistre's authoritarian, "throne-and-altar" conception of conservatism declined in influence in comparison with the more liberal conservatism of Burke.
However, Maistre's skills as a writer and polemicist ensured that he continues to be read.
For instance, Matthew Arnold, an influential 19th-century critic, wrote as follows while comparing Maistre's style with his Irish counterpart:
Joseph de Maistre is another of those men whose word, like that of Burke, has vitality.
In imaginative power he is altogether inferior to Burke.
On the other hand his thought moves in closer order than Burke's, more rapidly, more directly; he has fewer superfluities.
Burke is a great writer, but Joseph de Maistre's use of the French language is more powerful, more thoroughly satisfactory, than Burke's use of the English.
It is masterly; it shows us to perfection of what that admirable instrument, the French language, is capable.

The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1910 describes his writing style as "strong, lively, picturesque" and that his "animation and good humour temper his dogmatic tone.
He possesses a wonderful facility in exposition, precision of doctrine, breadth of learning, and dialectical power".
Although a political opponent, Alphonse de Lamartine admired the splendour of his prose, stating:
That brief, nervous, lucid style, stripped of phrases, robust of limb, did not at all recall the softness of the eighteenth century, nor the declamations of the latest French books: it was born and steeped in the breath of the Alps; it was virgin, it was young, it was harsh and savage; it had no human respect, it felt its solitude; it improvised depth and form all at once… That man was new among the enfants du siècle [children of the century].

Émile Faguet described Maistre as "a fierce absolutist, a furious theocrat, an intransigent legitimist, apostle of a monstrous trinity composed of pope, king and hangman, always and everywhere the champion of the hardest, narrowest and most inflexible dogmatism, a dark figure out of the Middle Ages, part learned doctor, part inquisitor, part executioner".

Amongst those who admired him was the poet Charles Baudelaire, who described himself a disciple of the Savoyard counter-revolutionary, claiming that he had taught him how to think.
George Saintsbury called him "unquestionably one of the greatest thinkers and writers of the eighteenth century".
Maistre also exerted a powerful influence on the Spanish political thinker Juan Donoso Cortés and later on the French antisemitic monarchist Charles Maurras and his counter-revolutionary political movement Action Française.

According to Carolina Armenteros, Maistre's writings influenced not only conservative political thinkers, but also the utopian socialists.
Early sociologists such as Auguste Comte and Henri de Saint-Simon explicitly acknowledged the influence of Maistre on their own thinking about the sources of social cohesion and political authority.
Together with the Anglo-Irish statesman and philosopher Edmund Burke, Maistre is commonly regarded as one of the founders of European conservatism, but since the 19th century Maistre's authoritarian, "throne-and-altar" conception of conservatism declined in influence in comparison with the more liberal conservatism of Burke. However, Maistre's skills as a writer and polemicist ensured that he continues to be read. For instance, Matthew Arnold, an influential 19th-century critic, wrote as follows while comparing Maistre's style with his Irish counterpart:
Joseph de Maistre is another of those men whose word, like that of Burke, has vitality. In imaginative power he is altogether inferior to Burke. On the other hand his thought moves in closer order than Burke's, more rapidly, more directly; he has fewer superfluities. Burke is a great writer, but Joseph de Maistre's use of the French language is more powerful, more thoroughly satisfactory, than Burke's use of the English. It is masterly; it shows us to perfection of what that admirable instrument, the French language, is capable.
The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1910 describes his writing style as "strong, lively, picturesque" and that his "animation and good humour temper his dogmatic tone. He possesses a wonderful facility in exposition, precision of doctrine, breadth of learning, and dialectical power". Although a political opponent, Alphonse de Lamartine admired the splendour of his prose, stating:
That brief, nervous, lucid style, stripped of phrases, robust of limb, did not at all recall the softness of the eighteenth century, nor the declamations of the latest French books: it was born and steeped in the breath of the Alps; it was virgin, it was young, it was harsh and savage; it had no human respect, it felt its solitude; it improvised depth and form all at once… That man was new among the enfants du siècle [children of the century].
Émile Faguet described Maistre as "a fierce absolutist, a furious theocrat, an intransigent legitimist, apostle of a monstrous trinity composed of pope, king and hangman, always and everywhere the champion of the hardest, narrowest and most inflexible dogmatism, a dark figure out of the Middle Ages, part learned doctor, part inquisitor, part executioner".
Amongst those who admired him was the poet Charles Baudelaire, who described himself a disciple of the Savoyard counter-revolutionary, claiming that he had taught him how to think. George Saintsbury called him "unquestionably one of the greatest thinkers and writers of the eighteenth century". Maistre also exerted a powerful influence on the Spanish political thinker Juan Donoso Cortés and later on the French antisemitic monarchist Charles Maurras and his counter-revolutionary political movement Action Française.
According to Carolina Armenteros, Maistre's writings influenced not only conservative political thinkers, but also the utopian socialists. Early sociologists such as Auguste Comte and Henri de Saint-Simon explicitly acknowledged the influence of Maistre on their own thinking about the sources of social cohesion and political authority.
Joseph de Maistre