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.

A virtuous and well-disposed person, like a good metal, the more he is fired, the more he is fined; the more he is opposed, the more he is approved: wrongs may well try him, and touch him, but cannot imprint in him any false stamp.

I have never had any [enemies] other than those of the state.

War is one of the scourges with which it has pleased God to afflict men.

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

A single word has sometimes lost or won an empire.

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