False opinions are like false money, struck first of all by guilty men and thereafter circulated by honest people who perpetuate the crime without knowing what they are doing.

There is no man who desires as passionately as a Russian. If we could imprison a Russian desire beneath a fortress, that fortress would explode.

In the works of man, everything is as poor as its author; vision is confined, means are limited, scope is restricted, movements are labored, and results are humdrum.

It is one of man's curious idiosyncrasies to create difficulties for the pleasure of resolving them.

I don't know what a scoundrel is like, but I know what a respectable man is like, and it's enough to make one's flesh creep.

Wherever an altar is found, there civilization exists.

I do not know what the heart of a rascal may be, but I know what is in the heart of an honest man; it is horrible.