If I may venture to be frank I would say about myself that I was every inch a gentleman.

The trouble is that my heart is loath to be without love even for a single hour. ... If you want to keep me forever, then show as much friendship as love, and more than anything else, love me and tell me the truth.

I like to praise and reward in a loud voice and to scold in a whisper.

The most sure, but at the same time the most difficult expedient to mend the morals of the people, is a perfect system of education.

Men make love more intensely at 20, but make love better, however, at 30.

I am one of the people who love the why of things.

The laws ought to be so framed as to secure the safety of every citizen as much as possible. ... Political liberty does not consist in the notion that a man may do whatever he pleases; liberty is the right to do whatsoever the laws allow. ... The equality of the citizens consists in that they should all be subject to the same laws.