Peace is an unstable equilibrium, which can be preserved only by acknowledged supremacy or equal power.

Liberty is a luxury of security; the free individual is a product and a mark of civilization.

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.

Underneath all civilization, ancient or modern, moved and still moves a sea of magic, superstition, and sorcery. Perhaps they will remain when the works of our reason have passed away.

The trouble with most people is that they think with their hopes or fears or wishes rather than with their minds.

Nothing is often a good thing to do and always a good thing to say.

Education is the transmission of civilization.