Let it not, therefore, be said that the Sovereign is not subject to the laws of his State; since the contrary is a true proposition of the right of nations, which flattery has sometimes attacked but good princes have always defended as the tutelary divinity of their dominions. How much more legitimate is it to say with the wise Plato, that the perfect felicity of a kingdom consists in the obedience of subjects to their prince, and of the prince to the laws, and in the laws being just and constantly directed to the public good!

The mechanism she employs is much more powerful than ours, for all her levers move the human heart.

Anticipation and Hope are born twins.

The people is never corrupted, but it is often deceived.

One thinks himself the master of others, and still remains a greater slave than they.

The abuse of books kills science. Believing that we know what we have read, we believe that we can dispense with learning it.

Presence of mind, penetration, fine observation, are the sciences of women; ability to avail themselves of these is their talent.