We have more faith in a well-written romance while we are reading it than in common history. The vividness of the representations in the one case more than counterbalances the mere knowledge of the truth of facts in the other.

The only vice that cannot be forgiven is hypocrisy. The repentance of a hypocrite is itself hypocrisy.

The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves.

We are not satisfied to be right, unless we can prove others to be quite wrong.

In what we really understand, we reason but little.

That which is not, shall never be; that which is, shall never cease to be. To the wise, these truths are self-evident.

Satirists gain the applause of others through fear, not through love.