Of all the passions, fear weakens judgment most.

She knew how to trust people... a rare quality, revealing a character far above average.

Every man whom chance alone has, by some accident, made a public character, hardly ever fails of becoming, in a short time, a ridiculous private one.

Great men help dazzle the people; after that, they dazzle themselves even more dangerously.

Nothing sways the stupid more than arguments they can't understand.

If you have to make an unpopular speech, give it all the sincerity you can muster; that's the only way to sweeten it.

Where princes are concerned, a man who is able to do good is as dangerous and almost as criminal as a man who intends to do evil.