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

There are only two cases in which war is just: first, in order to resist the aggression of an enemy, and second, in order to help an ally who has been attacked.

Slavery, properly so called, is the establishment of a right which gives to one man such a power over another as renders him absolute master of his life and fortune.

Virtue has needs of limits.

Power ought to serve as a check to power.

Coffee renders many foolish people temporarily capable of wise actions

There is still another inconvenieney in conquests made by democracies; their government is ever odious to the conquered states. It is apparently monarchical, but in reality it is more oppressive than monarchy, as the experience of all ages and countries evinces.