If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him.

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

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

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.

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

A single word has sometimes lost or won an empire.

Secrecy is the first essential in affairs of state.