Forms of government become established of themselves. They shape themselves, they are not created. We may give them strength and consistency, but we cannot call them into being. Let us rest assured that the form of government can never be a matter of choice: it is almost always a matter of necessity.

The sound of the drum drives out thought; for that very reason it is the most military of instruments.

Never write anything that does not give you great pleasure. Emotion is easily transferred from the writer to the reader.

Know that morality is a curb, not a spur.

A thought is a thing as real as a cannonball.

I love prudence very little, if it is not moral.

All are born to observe order, but few are born to establish it.