There are many women who have never intrigued, and many men who have never gamed; but those who have done either but once are very extraordinary animals.

A wise minister would rather preserve peace than gain a victory, because he knows that even the most successful war leaves nations generally more poor, always more profligate, than it found them.

That is fine benevolence, finely executed, which, like the Nile, comes from hidden sources.

No disorders have employed so many quacks, as those that have no cure; and no sciences have exercised so many quills, as those that have no certainty.

Mystery is not profoundness.

It is a common observation that any fool can get money; but they are not wise that think so.

Those who visit foreign nations, but who associate only with their own countrymen, change their climate, but not their customs 'caelum non animum mutant': they see new meridians, but the same men, and with heads as empty as their pockets.