Nothing so upholds the laws as the punishment of persons whose rank is as great as their crime.

I do not sleep to let others sleep in the shade of my waking.

Nothing is as dangerous for the state as those who would govern kingdoms with maxims found in books.

Reason must be the universal rule and guide; all things must be done according to reason without allowing oneself to be swayed by emotion.

Had Luther and Calvin been confined before they had begun to dogmatize, the states would have been spared many troubles.

One must believe neither the people of the palace, who ordinarily measure the power of the king by the shape of his crown, which, being round, has no end, nor those who, in the excesses of an indiscreet zeal, proclaim themselves openly as partisans of Rome.

First, all means to conciliate; failing that, all means to crush.