My early and invincible love of reading I would not exchange for all the riches of India.

It is the first care of a reformer to prevent any future reformation.

The imprudent Maximus disregarded these salutary considerations: he gratified his resentment and ambition; he saw the bleeding corpse of Valentinian at his feet; and he heard himself saluted Emperor by the unanimous voice of the senate and people. But the day of his inauguration was the last day of his happiness.

But the wisdom and authority of the legislator are seldom victorious in a contest with the vigilant dexterity of private interest.

Flattery is a foolish suicide; she destroys herself with her own hands.

Of human life, the most glorious or humble prospects are alike and soon bounded by the sepulchre.

The most successful of the Tartar princes assumed the military command, to which he was entitled by the superiority either of merit or of power. He was raised to the throne by the acclamations of his equals; and the title of Khan expresses, in the language of the North of Asia, the full extent of the regal dignity. The right of hereditary succession was long confined to the blood of the founder of the monarchy; and at this moment all the Khans, who reign from Crimea to the wall of China, are the lineal descendants of the renowned Zingis.