The effect of liberty to individuals is that they may do what they please: we ought to see what it will please them to do, before we risk congratulations.

A perfect democracy is therefore the most shameless thing in the world.

Among precautions against ambition, it may not be amiss to take precautions against our own. I must fairly say, I dread our own power and our own ambition: I dread our being too much dreaded.

Sallust is indisputably one of the best historians among the Romans, both for the purity of his language and the elegance of his style.

To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting.

Free trade is not based on utility but on justice.

If the prudence of reserve and decorum dictates silence in some circumstances, in others prudence of a higher order may justify us in speaking our thoughts.