On why I don't trust democracy without extremely powerful systems of accountability and recall What seems to be generosity is often only disguised ambition - which despises small interests to gain great ones.

True bravery means doing alone that which one could do if all the world were by.

It is the habit of mediocre minds to condemn all that is beyond their grasp.

Old age is a tyrant, who forbids, under pain of death, the pleasures of youth.

Solemnity is a device of the body to hide the faults of the mind.

Commonplace minds usually condemn what is beyond the reach of their understanding.

Hope is the last thing that dies in man; and though it be exceedingly deceitful, yet it is of this good use to us, that while we are traveling through life it conducts us in an easier and more pleasant way to our journey's end.