No nation has the right to bring about a revolution, even though such a change may be most urgently needed, if the price is the blood of one single innocent individual.

I never was able to believe in the existence of next year except as in a metaphysical notion.

The life of famous men was more glorious in antiquity; the life of obscure men is happier with the moderns.

The entire social order ... is arrayed against a woman who wants to rise to a man's reputation.

Enthusiasm signifies 'God in us.'

If it were not for respect for human opinions, I would not open my window to see the Bay of Naples for the first time, whilst I would go five hundred leagues to talk with a man of genius whom I had not seen.

The sense of this word among the Greeks affords the noblest definition of it; enthusiasm signifies 'God in us.'