He who is unmoved by tears has no heart.
Speeches pass away, but acts remain.
Nothing is more arrogant than the weakness which feels itself supported by power.
A legislator must know how to take advantage of even the defects of those he wants to govern. The art consists in making others work rather than in wearing oneself out.
To negotiate is not to do as one likes.
The first method is that of a schemer and leads only to mediocre results; the other method is the path of genius and changes the face of the world.
A great European federative system alone can be favourable to the development of civilisation.
Great men are never cruel without necessity.
A magistrate is not a father; he must be just and severe. Only tyrants are fathers.
Do not talk to me of goodness, of abstract justice, of nature law. Necessity is the highest law, public welfare is the highest justice.
Men who have changed the world never achieved their success by winning the chief citizens to their side, but always by stirring the masses.
War is a lottery in which nations ought to risk nothing but small amounts.
War is a serious game in which a man risks his reputation, his troops, and his country. A sensible man will search himself to know whether or not he is fitted for the trade.
When your enemy is doing something wrong, do not interrupt him.
Variety made the Revolution. Liberty was just a pretext.
We are made weak both by idleness and distrust of ourselves. Unfortunate, indeed, is he who suffers from both. If he is a mere individual he becomes nothing; if he is a king he is lost.
You cannot drag a man’s conscience before any tribunal, and no one is answerable for his religious opinions to any power on earth.
Whatever misanthropists may say, ingrates and the perverse are exceptions in the human species.
True character stands the test of emergencies. Do not be mistaken, it is weakness from which the awakening is rude.
Those who are free from common prejudices acquire others.