Laws, in their most general signification, are the necessary relations arising from the nature of things. In this sense all beings have their laws: the Deity His laws, the material world its laws, the intelligences superior to man their laws, the beasts their laws, man his laws.

It is always the adventurers who do great things, not the sovereigns of great empires.

There is only one thing that can form a bond between men, and that is gratitude... we cannot give someone else greater power over us than we have ourselves.

If one only wished to be happy, this could be easily accomplished; but we wish to be happier that other people, and this is always difficult, for we believe others to be happier than they are. you are comparing your lot with an ideal which is of course better and therefore you feel worse

The success of most things depends upon knowing how long it will take to succeed.

I shall ever repeat it, that mankind are governed not by extremes, but by principals of moderation.

The life of man is but a succession of vain hopes and groundless fears.