A nation may lose its liberties in a day and not miss them in a century.
Political liberty is to be found only in moderate governments.
Each particular society begins to feel its strength, whence arises a state of war between different nations.
Virtue has needs of limits.
In the infancy of societies, the chiefs of state shape its institutions; later the institutions shape the chiefs of state.
The coffee is prepared in such a way that it makes those who drink it witty: at least there is not a single soul who, on quitting the house, does not believe himself four times wittier that when he entered it.