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.

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

Secrecy is the first essential in affairs of state.

If God forbade drinking, would He have made wine so good?

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

Bakers of bread rolls and pastry cooks will not buy grain before eleven o'clock in winter and noon in summer.

Deception is the knowledge of kings.