When virtue is banished, ambition invades the minds of those who are disposed to receive it and avarice possesses the whole community.

In the state of nature... all men are born equal, but they cannot continue in this equality. Society makes them lose it, and they recover it only by the protection of the law.

Not to be loved is a misfortune, but it is an insult to be loved no longer.

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

Success in the majority of circumstances depends on knowing how long it takes to succeed.

There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetuated under the shield of law and in the name of justice.

That anyone who possesses power has a tendency to abuse it is an eternal truth. They tend to go as far as the barriers will allow.