Of all studies, the most delightful and the most useful is biography. The seeds of great events lie near the surface; historians delve too deep for them. No history was ever true. Lives I have read which, if they were not, had the appearance, the interest, and the utility of truth.

I never did a single wise thing in the whole course of my existence, although I have written many which have been thought so.

Death stands above me, whispering low I know not what into my ear; Of his strange language all I know Is, there is not a word of fear.

The highest price we can pay for anything; is to ask it.

States, like men, have their growth, their manhood, their decrepitude, their decay.

Modesty and diffidence make a man unfit for public affairs; they also make him unfit for brothels.

Where power is absent we may find the robe of genius, but we miss the throne.