Such being the happiness of the times, that you may think as you wish, and speak as you think.
This I hold to be the chief office of history, to rescue virtuous actions from the oblivion to which a want of records would consign them, and that men should feel a dread of being considered infamous in the opinions of posterity, from their depraved expressions and base actions.
The gods are on the side of the stronger.
The persecution of genius fosters its influence.
The desire for glory clings even to the best men longer than any other passion.
This I regard as history's highest function, to let no worthy action be uncommemorated, and to hold out the reprobation of posterity as a terror to evil words and deeds.