In vain do we seek tranquility in the desert; temptations are always with us; our passions, represented by the demons, never let us alone: those monsters created by the heart, those illusions produced by the mind, those vain specters that are our errors and our lies always appear before us to seduce us; they attack us even in our fasting or our mortifications, in other words, in our very strength.

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.

An injustice to one is a threat made to all

There are bad examples which are worse than crimes; and more states have perished from the violation of morality than from the violation of law.

[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.

Power should be a check on power.

Great commanders write their actions with simplicity; because they receive more glory from facts than from words.