Persecution in intellectual countries produces a superficial conformity, but also underneath an intense, incessant, implacable doubt.

Efficiency in an assembly requires a solid mass of steady votes; and these are collected by a deferential attachment to particular men, or by a belief in the principles that those men represent, and they are maintained by fear of those men - by the fear that if you vote against them, you may soon yourself have no vote at all.

So long as there are earnest believers in the world, they will always wish to punish opinions, even if their judgment tells them it is unwise and their conscience that it is wrong.

An inability to stay quiet is one of the conspicuous failings of mankind.

Poverty is an anomaly to rich people; it is very difficult to make out why people who want dinner do not ring the bell.

An ambassador is not simply an agent; he is also a spectacle.

A family on the throne is an interesting idea. It brings down the pride of sovereignty to the level of petty life.