A hair shirt does not always render those chaste who wear it.

There is a huge gulf between the man who follows the conventions and laws of his country and the man who sets out to regiment them and to change them.

There are few things on which we can pass a sincere judgement, because there are few things in which we have not, in one way or another, a particular interest.

We imagine much more appropriately an artisan on his toilet seat or on his wife than a great president, venerable by his demeanorand his ability. It seems to us that they do not stoop from their lofty thrones even to live.

The souls of emperors and cobblers are cast in the same mould

There is as much difference between us and ourselves as there is between us and others.

I do not speak the minds of others except to speak my own mind better.