The role of the scholar is to destroy chimeras, that of the statesman is to make use of them.

The influence of the leaders is due in very small measure to the arguments they employ, but in a large degree to their prestige. The best proof of this is that, should they by any circumstance lose their prestige, their influence disappears.

The art of those who govern consists above all in the science of employing words.

The real cause of the great upheavals which precede changes of civilisations, such as the fall of the Roman Empire and the rise of the Arabian Empire, is a profound modification in the ideas of the peoples .... The memorable events of history are the visible effects of the invisible changes of human thought .... The present epoch is one of these critical moments in which the thought of mankind is undergoing a process of transformation.

Crowds are influenced mainly by images produced by the judicious employment of words and formulas

The beginning of a revolution is in reality the end of a belief.

Are the worst enemies of society those who attack it or those who do not even give themselves the trouble of defending it?