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

No tyranny is more cruel than the one practised in the shadow of the laws and under color of justice - when, so to speak, one proceeds to drown the unfortunate on the very plank by which they had saved themselves. And since a tyrant never lacks instruments for his tyranny, Tiberius always found judges ready to condemn as many people as he might suspect.

What unhappy beings men are! They constantly waver between false hopes and silly fears, and instead of relying on reason they create monsters to frighten themselves with, and phantoms which lead them astray.

An author is a fool who, not content with boring those he lives with, insists on boring future generations.

We receive three educations, one from our parents, one from our school-masters, and one from the world. The third contradicts all that the first two teach us.

A nation may lose its liberties in a day and not miss them in a century.

It is requisite the government be so constituted as one man need not be afraid of another.