Conquest has made me what I am, only conquest can maintain me.

A man will fight harder for his interests than for his rights.

Never depend on the multitude, full of instability and whims; always take precautions against it.

The best way to make every one poor is to insist on equality of wealth.

You become strong by defying defeat and by turning loss into gain and failure to success.

Called to the throne by the voice of the people, my maxim has always been: A career open to talent without distinction of birth. It is this system of equality for which the European oligarchy detests me

In tragedy great men are more truly great than in history. We see them only in the crises which unfold them.