Envy like fire always makes for the highest points.

Avarice and luxury, those evils which have been the ruin of every great state.

Under the influence of fear, which always leads men to take a pessimistic view of things, they magnified their enemies' resources, and minimized their own.

Favor and honor sometimes fall more fitly on those who do not desire them.

The study of history is the best medicine for a sick mind; for in history you have a record of the infinite variety of human experience plainly set out for all to see; and in that record you can find yourself and your country both examples and warnings; fine things to take as models, base things rotten through and through, to avoid.

The less there is of fear, the less there is of danger.

This above all makes history useful and desirable; it unfolds before our eyes a glorious record of exemplary actions.