It is more rational to suspect knavery and folly than to discount, at a stroke, everything that past experience has taught me about the way things actually work

Of all sciences there is none where first appearances are more deceitful than in politics.

The richest genius, like the most fertile soil, when uncultivated, shoots up into the rankest weeds.

The law always limits every power it gives.

It is a certain rule that wit and passion are entirely incompatible. When the affections are moved, there is no place for the imagination.

The stability of modern governments above the ancient, and the accuracy of modern philosophy, have improved, and probably will still improve, by similar gradations.

The greatest crimes have been found, in many instances, to be compatible with a superstitious piety and devotion; hence it is justly regarded as unsafe to draw any inference in favor of a man's morals, from the fervor or strictness of his religious exercises, even though he himself believe them sincere.