I shall be an autocrat: that's my trade. And the good Lord will forgive me: that's his.

God, grant us our desires, and grant them quickly.

Praise is the only gift for which people are really grateful. Marguerite, Countess of Blessington I praise loudly; I blame softly.

I may be kindly, I am ordinarily gentle, but in my line of business I am obliged to will terribly what I will at all.

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.

What right can give anyone authority to inflict torture upon a citizen when it is still unknown whether he is innocent or guilty?

self-interest usually brings injustice with it.