Kings play at war unfairly with republics; they can only lose some earth, and some creatures they value as little, while republics lose in every soldier a part of themselves.

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

When the mind loses its feeling for elegance, it grows corrupt and groveling, and seeks in the crowd what ought to be found at home.

The present, like a note in music, is nothing but as it appertains to what is past and what is to come.

We are no longer happy so soon as we wish to be happier.

Cruelty is the highest pleasure to the cruel man; it is his love.

We cannot at once catch the applauses of the vulgar and expect the approbation of the wise.