The sublimity of administration consists in knowing the proper degree of power that should be exerted on different occasions.

Better it is to say that the government most comfortable to nature is that which best agrees with the humor and disposition of the people in whose favor it is established.

A love of the republic in a democracy is a love of the democracy, as the latter is that of equality. A love of the democracy is likewise that of frugality. Since every individual ought here to enjoy the same happiness, and the same advantages, they should consequently taste the same pleasures and form the same hopes, which cannot be expected but from a general frugality.

People here argue about religion interminably, but it appears that they are competing at the same time to see who can be the least devout.

Fain would I glide down a gentle river, but I am carried away by a torrent.

Liberty... is there only when there is no abuse of power.

I never listen to calumnies, because if they are untrue I run the risk of being deceived, and if they be true, of hating persons not worth thinking about.