Our greatest misfortunes come to us from ourselves.

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

People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little.

Even knaves may be made good for something.

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

It has always pleased me to read while eating if I have no companion; it gives me the society I lack. I devour alternately a page and a mouthful; it is as though my book were dining with me.

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!