This punishment of death is the remedy, as it were, of a sick society.

If I knew something that would serve my country but would harm mankind, I would never reveal it; for I am a citizen of humanity first and by necessity, and a citizen of France second, and only by accident

Politics are a smooth file, which cuts gradually, and attains its end by slow progression.

The reason the Romans built their great paved highways was because they had such inconvenient footwear.

[The Pope] will make the king believe that three are only one, that the bread he eats is not bread... and a thousand other things of the same kind.

The life of man is but a succession of vain hopes and groundless fears.

When a government lasts a long while, it deteriorates by insensible degrees. Republics end through luxury, monarchies through poverty.