If we lived in a state where virtue was profitable, common sense would make us saintly. But since we see that avarice, anger, pride and stupidity commonly profit far beyond charity, modesty, justice and thought, perhaps we must stand fast a little, even at the risk of being heroes.

Laws could be passed to keep the leader of a government from getting too much power.

Whoever loveth me, loveth my hound.

The heart that has truly loved never forgets.

Pride measures prosperity not by her own advantages but by the disadvantages of others. She would not even wish to be a goddess unless there were some wretches left whom she could order about and lord it over, whose misery would make her happiness seem all the more extraordinary, whose poverty can be tormented and exacerbated by a display of her wealth. This infernal serpent, pervading the human heart, keeps men from reforming their lives, holding them back like a suckfish.

We cannot go to heaven in featherbeds.

They have no lawyers among them, for they consider them as a sort of people whose profession it is to disguise matters.