To conceive the good, in fact, is not sufficient; it must be made to succeed among men. To accomplish this less pure paths must be followed.

A nation has a soul, a spiritual principle. One is in the past, the other in the present. One is the possession of a rich legacy of memories; the other is the desire to live together and to value the common heritage.

To be able to think freely, a man must be certain that no consequence will follow whatever he writes.

Good humor is a philosophic state of mind; it seems to say to nature that we take her no more seriously than she takes us.

Every rebel is, with us, more or less a soldier who has missed his vocation, a being made for a heroic life ... The European race is a race of masters and soldiers. If you reduce this noble race to the work in a slave's prison like Negroes or Chinamen, it will rebel.

The virtue of man is, in a word, the great proof of God.

The talent of historians lies in their creating a true ensemble out of facts which are but half true.