There are no small steps in great affairs.
Of all the passions, fear weakens judgment most.
When you are obliged to make a statement that you know will cause displeasure, you must say it with every appearance of sincerity; this is the only way to make it palatable.
The most mistrustful are often the greatest dupes.
Timorous minds are much more inclined to deliberate than to resolve.
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.