For a country, everything will be lost when the jobs of an economist and a banker become highly respected professions.

Virtue has needs of limits.

It is unreasonable ... to oblige a man not to attempt the defense of his own life.

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.

The culminating point of administration is to know well how much power, great or small, we ought to use in all circumstances.

Politics are a smooth file, which cuts gradually, and attains its end by slow progression.

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.