A taste for books, which is still the pleasure and glory of my life.

The terror of the Roman arms added weight and dignity to the moderation of the emperors. They preserved the peace by a constant preparation for war.

The Gauls were endowed with all the advantages of art and nature; but as they wanted courage to defend them, they were justly condemned to obey, and even to flatter, the victorious Barbarians, by whose clemency they held their precarious fortunes and their lives.

The courage of a soldier is found to be the cheapest and most common quality of human nature.

Amiable weaknesses of human nature.

[We should] suspend our belief of every tale that deviates from the laws of nature and the character of man.

The style of an author should be the image of his mind, but the choice and command of language is the fruit of exercise.