My English text is chaste, and all licentious passages are left in the decent obscurity of a learned language.

The savage nations of the globe are the common enemies of civilized society; and we may inquire, with anxious curiosity, whether Europe is still threatened with a repetition of those calamities, which formerly oppressed the arms and institutions of Rome.

I am indeed rich, since my income is superior to my expenses, and my expense is equal to my wishes.

[All] the manly virtues were oppressed by the servile and pusillanimous reign of the monks.

The comparative view of the powers of the magistrates, in two remarkable instances, is alone sufficient to represent the whole system of German manners. The disposal of the landed property within their district was absolutely vested in their hands, and they distributed it every year according to a new division. At the same time, they were not authorised to punish with death, to imprison, or even to strike, a private citizen.

In the field of controversy I always pity the moderate party, who stand on the open middle ground exposed to the fire of both sides.

[Peace] cannot be honorable or secure, if the sovereign betrays a pusillanimous aversion to war.