I have only a small flickering light to guide me in the darkness of a thick forest. Up comes a theologian and blows it out.

The arbitrary rule of a just and enlightened prince is always bad. His virtues are the most dangerous and the surest form of seduction: they lull a people imperceptibly into the habit of loving, respecting, and serving his successor, whoever that successor may be, no matter how wicked or stupid.

It has been said that love robs those who have it of their wit, and gives it to those who have none.

Doctors are always working to preserve our health and cooks to destroy it, but the latter are the more often successful.

I discuss with myself questions of politics, love, taste, or philosophy. I let my mind rove wantonly, give it free rein to followany idea, wise or mad that may present itself. My ideas are my harlots.

Isn't it better to have men being ungrateful than to miss a chance to do good?

The world is the house of the strong. I shall not know until the end what I have lost or won in this place, in this vast gambling den where I have spent more than sixty years, dice box in hand, shaking the dice.