Power ought to serve as a check to power.

But constant experience shows us that every man invested with power is apt to abuse it, and to carry his authority as far as it will go.

Although born in a prosperous realm, we did not believe that its boundaries should limit our knowledge, and that the lore of the East should alone enlighten us.

You have to study a great deal to know a little.

It is not the young people that degenerate; they are not spoiled till those of mature age are already sunk into corruption.

Men should be bewailed at their birth, and not at their death.

We should weep for men at their birth, not at their death.

To become truly great, one has to stand with people, not above them.

When the body of the people is possessed of the supreme power, it is called a democracy.

A man should be mourned at his birth, not at his death.

To become truly great, one has to stand with people, not above them.

Society is the union of men and not the men themselves.

The law of nations is naturally founded on this principle, that different nations ought in time of peace to do one another all the good they can, and in time of war as little injury as possible, without prejudicing their real interests.

The less men think, the more they talk.

We must have constantly present in our minds the difference between independence and liberty. Liberty is a right of doing whatever the laws permit, and if a citizen could do what they forbid he would no longer be possessed of liberty.

Men, who are rogues individually, are in the mass very honorable people.

There are three species of government: republican, monarchical, and despotic.

I have never known any distress that an hour's reading did not relieve.

If triangles had a god, they would give him three sides.

False happiness renders men stern and proud, and that happiness is never communicated. True happiness renders them kind and sensible, and that happiness is always shared.

The object of war is victory; that of victory is conquest; and that of conquest preservation.

In most things success depends on knowing how long it takes to succeed.