It is incumbent on us diligently to remember that the kingdom of heaven was promised to the poor in spirit, and that minds afflicted by calamity and the contempt of mankind cheerfully listen to the divine promise of future happiness; while, on the contrary, the fortunate are satisfied with the possession of this world; and the wise abuse in doubt and dispute their vain superiority of reason and knowledge.

Revenge is profitable, gratitude is expensive.

The historian must have some conception of how men who are not historians behave.

[Whole] generations may be swept away by the madness of kings in the space of a single hour.

Sixty thousand blacks are annually embarked from the coast of Guinea, never to return to their native country; but they are embarked in chains: and this constant emigration, which, in the space of two centuries, might have furnished armies to overrun the globe, accuses the guilt of Europe and the weakness of Africa.

The end comes when we no longer talk with ourselves. It is the end of genuine thinking and the beginning of the final loneliness.

I sighed as a lover, I obeyed as a son.