An emperor knows how to govern when poets are free to make verses, people to act plays, historians to tell the truth, ministers to give advice, the poor to grumble at taxes, students to learn lessons aloud, workmen to praise their skill and seek work, people to speak of anything, and old men to find fault with everything.

Freedom and equality are naturan born enemies.

by and large the poor have the same impulses as the rich, with only less opportunity or skill to implement them

History is so indifferently rich, that a case for almost any conclusion from it can be made by a selection of instances.

Civilization is not inherited; it has to be learned and earned by each generation anew; if the transmission should be interrupted for one century, civilization would die, and we should be savages again.

Cultivate your garden. Do not depend upon teachers to educate you... follow your own bent, pursue your curiosity bravely, express yourself, make your own harmony.

The love we have in our youth is superficial compared to the love that an old man has for his old wife.