I shall cheerfully bear the reproach of having descended below the dignity of history.

That is the best government which desires to make the people happy, and knows how to make them happy.

Every political sect has its esoteric and its exoteric school--its abstract doctrines for the initiated; its visible symbols, its imposing forms, its mythological fables, for the vulgar.

Nothing is so useless as a general maxim.

He had done that which could never be forgiven; he was in the grasp of one who never forgave.

In every age the vilest specimens of human nature are to be found among demagogues.

It is good to be often reminded of the inconsistency of human nature, and to learn to look without wonder or disgust on the weaknesses which are found in the strongest minds.