Patriotism corrupts history.

It makes no good to point the failures out without showing at the same time the remedy to address them.

Prudent and active men, who know their strength and use it with limit and circumspection, alone go far in the affairs of the world.

Nothing is more disgusting than the majority: because it consists of a few powerful predecessors, of rogues who adapt themselves, of weak who assimilate themselves, and the masses who imitate without knowing at all what they want.

Very few people love others for what they are; rather, they love what they lend them, their own selves, their own idea of them.

The important thing is not to know more than all men, but to know more at each moment than any particular man.

Plunge boldly into the thick of life, and seize it where you will, it is always interesting.