A man who writes well writes not as others write, but as he himself writes; it is often in speaking badly that he speaks well.

The love of study is in us the only lasting passion. All the others quit us in proportion as this miserable machine which holds them approaches its ruins.

Democracy is corrupted not only when the spirit of equality is corrupted, but likewise when they fall into a spirit of extreme equality.

The severity of the laws prevents their execution.

Law should be like death, which spares no one.

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.

The history of commerce is that of the communication of the people.