The fire of my adversity has purged the mass of my acquaintance.
Henry St John, 1st Viscount BolingbrokeFaction is to party what the superlative is to the positive. Party is a political evil, and faction is the worst of all parties.
Henry St John, 1st Viscount BolingbrokeThere is so much trouble in coming into the world, and so much more, as well as meanness, in going out of it, that it is hardly worth while to be here at all.
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