To foretell the destiny of a nation, it is necessary to open a book that tells of her past.

But because their ancestors were men of righteousness, shall we consent to the abuses of their degenerate descendants? Because they did us a great good, would we be guilty if we prevented them from doing us evil?

Who does not love his own tongue is far worse than a brute or stinking fish.

No, let us not make God in our image, poor inhabitants that we are of a distant planet lost in infinite space. However brilliant and sublime our intelligence may be, it is scarcely more than a small spark which shines and in an instant is extinguished, and it alone can give us no idea of that blaze, that conflagration, that ocean of light!

Man is multiplied by the number of languages he possesses and speaks.

When there is in nature no fixed condition, how much less must there be in the life of a people, beings endowed with mobility and movement!

No good water comes from a muddy spring. No sweet fruit comes from a bitter seed.