It is not our criminal actions that require courage to confess, but those which are ridiculous and foolish.

The man who meditates is a depraved animal.

What good would it be to possess the whole universe if one were its only survivor?

Reading, solitude, idleness, a soft and sedentary life, intercourse with women and young people, these are perilous paths for a young man, and these lead him constantly into danger.

I bold it impossible, that the great monarchies of Europe can subsist much longer; they all affect magnificence and splendor.

Do you not know...that a child badly taught is farther from being wise than one not taught at all?

In a well governed state, there are few punishments, not because there are many pardons, but because criminals are rare; it is when a state is in decay that the multitude of crimes is a gaurantee of impunity.