[The Germans] so easily confuse obstinacy with energy, and rudeness with firmness.

[On Italian:] One may almost call it a language that talks of itself, and always seems more witty than its speakers.

... in the history of the human mind there has never been a useful thought or a profound truth that has not found its century and admirers.

If one hour's work is enough to govern France, four minutes is all that is needed for Italy. There is no nation more easily frightened; even its poetic imagination predisposes it to fear, and they look upon power as on an image that fills them with terror.

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

Life resembles Gobelin tapestry; you do not see the canvass on the right side; but when you turn it, the threads are visible.

[The Germans] so easily confuse obstinacy with energy, and rudeness with firmness.