I repeat... that all power is a trust; that we are accountable for its exercise; that from the people and for the people all springs, and all must exist.

A nation will not count the sacrifice it makes, if it supposes it is engaged in a struggle for its fame, its influence and its existence.

Every production of genius must be the production of enthusiasm.

An insular country, subject to fogs, and with a powerful middle class, requires grave statesmen.

Almost everything that is great has been done by youth.

Knowledge must be gained by ourselves. Mankind may supply us with facts; but the results, even if they agree with previous ones, must be the work of our own minds.

In politics, nothing is contemptible.