Indifference must be a crime in us, to be ranked but one degree below treachery; for deserting the commonwealth is next to betraying it.
Henry St John, 1st Viscount BolingbrokeA long novitiate of acquaintance should precede the vows of friendship.
Henry St John, 1st Viscount BolingbrokeCunning pays no regard to virtue, and is but the low mimic of reason.
Henry St John, 1st Viscount BolingbrokeThe fire of my adversity has purged the mass of my acquaintance.
Henry St John, 1st Viscount BolingbrokeIt is a very easy thing to devise good laws; the difficulty is to make them effective. The great mistake is that of looking upon men as virtuous, or thinking that they can be made so by laws; and consequently the greatest art of a politician is to render vices serviceable to the cause of virtue.
Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke