To your care and recommendation am I indebted for having replaced a half-blind mathematician with a mathematician with both eyes, which will especially please the anatomical members of my Academy.

Many battles have been fought and won by soldiers nourished on beer, and the King does not believe that coffee-drinking soldiers can be relied upon to endure hardships in case of another war.

Man is made for error; it enters his mind naturally, and he discovers a few truths only with the greatest effort.

Pleasure is the most real good in this life.

Diplomacy without military might is like music without instruments.

No government can exist without taxation. The money must necessarily be levied on the people; and the grand art consists of levying so as not to oppress.

The greatest and noblest pleasure which we have in this world is to discover new truths, and the next is to shake off old prejudices.