Falsehood has an infinity of combinations, but truth has only one mode of being.

No one is happy unless he respects himself.

Interest is the spur of the people, but glory that of great souls.

The most absolute authority is that which penetrates into a man's innermost being and concerns itself no less with his will than with his actions.

There is no subjection so perfect as that which keeps the appearance of freedom.

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.

We do not know either unalloyed happiness or unmitigated misfortune. Everything in this world is a tangled yarn; we taste nothing in its purity; we do not remain two moments in the same state. Our affections as well as bodies, are in a perpetual flux.