142 quotes found
"Il y a une chose plus triste à perdre que la vie, c’est la raison de vivre, Plus triste que de perdre ses biens, c’est de perdre son espérance."
"Il n'y a pour les choses et pour les poèmes qu'une seule manière d'être nouveaux, c'est d'être vrais et qu'une seule manière d'être jeunes, c'est d'être éternels."
"Si l'ordre est le plaisir de la raison, le désordre est le délice de l'imagination."
"In the little moment that remains to us between the crisis and the catastrophe, we may as well drink a glass of champagne."
"Art imitates nature not in its effects as such, but in its causes, in its ‘manner,’ in its process, which are nothing but a participation in and a derivation of actual objects, of the Art of God himself."
"J'avais complètement oublié la religion et j'étais à son égard d'une ignorance sauvage. La première lueur de vérité me fut donnée par la rencontre des livres d'un grand poète, à qui je dois une éternelle reconnaissance, et qui a eu dans la formation de ma pensée une part prépondérante, Arthur Rimbaud. La lecture des Illuminations, puis, quelques mois après, d'Une Saison en enfer, fut pour moi un événement capital. Pour la première fois, ces livres ouvraient une fissure dans mon bagne matérialiste et me donnaient l'impression vivante et presque physique du surnaturel."
"If it is correct to say that there will always be rightist temperaments and leftist temperaments, it is nevertheless also correct to say that political philosophy is neither rightist nor leftist; it must simply be true."
"In so far as we are individuals, each of us is a fragment of a species, a part of this universe, a single dot in the immense network of forces and influences, cosmic, ethnic, historic, whose laws we obey. We are subject to the determination of the physical world. But each man is also a person, he is not subject to the stars and atoms; for he subsists entirely with the very subsistence of his spiritual soul, and the latter is in him a principle of creative unity, of independence and of freedom."
"In each of us there dwells a mystery, and that mystery is the human personality."
"Thus society is born, as something required by nature, and (because this nature is human nature) as something accomplished through a work of reason and will, and freely consented to. Man is a political animal, which means that the human person craves political life, communal life, not only with regard to the family community, but with regard to the civil community."
"The truth of practical intellect is understood not as conformity to an extramental being but as conformity to a right desire; the end is no longer to know what is, but to bring into existence that which is not yet."
"The equality of rights of all citizens is the basic tenet of modern democratic societies."
"A great philosopher in the wrong is like a beacon on the reefs which says to seamen: steer clear of me."
"We have just seen that perfection and contemplation imply each other by reason of love which is at once the essence of perfecton and “the source, the execize and the end” of contemplation. One can also show this mutual implication by the stressing the fact that under the regime of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is the state proper to perfection and to contemplation all at once. Saint Thomas teaches that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are necessary for salvation, because we are too weak all by ourselves always to use as we should even the theological virtues and the infused moral virtues. […] For, as saint Bonavenure tell us, “the gifts immediately dispose one to contemplation”."
"Whereas the intelligence of God is both the cause and the measure of the truth of things, things are both the cause and the measure of the truth of our intelligence."
"The philosopher says that God's knowledge is the measure of things, and that things are the measure of man's knowledge."
"What we need is not truths that serve us but a truth we may serve."
"It is enough that things exist for God to be unavoidable. Let us but grant to a bit of moss or the smallest ant its due nature as an ontological reality, and we can no longer escape the terrifying hand that made us."
"Things are opaque to us, and we are opaque to ourselves."
"To be free is of the essence of every intellectual being."
"Western humanism has religious and transcendent sources without which it is incomprehensible to itself."
"Nothing is more vain than to seek to unite men by a philosophic minimum."
"There is nothing man desires more than a heroic life: there is nothing less common to men than heroism."
"In loving things and the being in them man should rather draw things up to the human level than reduce humanity to their measure."
"There is room neither for the poet nor for the contemplator in an egalitarian world."
"The supernatural light of the spirit is the only night from which the spirit can emerge alive."
"A community of free men cannot exist if its spiritual base is not solely law."
"Not only does the democratic state of mind stem from the inspiration of the Gospel, but it cannot exist without it."
"Absolute atheism starts in an act of faith in reverse gear and is a full-blown religious commitment. Here we have the first internal inconsistency of contemporary atheism: it proclaims that all religion must necessarily vanish away, and it is itself a religious phenomena."
"To redeem creation the saint wages war on the entire fabric of creation, with the bare weapons of truth and love."
"With all his sincerity and devotion, the authentic, absolute atheist is after all only an abortive saint, and at the same time, a mistaken revolutionist."
"The first step to be taken by everyone who wishes to act morally is to decide not to act according to the general customs and doings of his fellow-men."
"The hope of the coming of a new Christian era in our civilization is to my mind a hope for a distant future, a very distant future."
"It is not possible to escape from the results of the irruption of faith into the structures of our knowledge."
"The act of philosophizing involves the character of the philosopher."
"To philosophize man must put his whole soul into play, in much the same manner that to run he must use his heart and lungs."
"In point of fact, Western philosophy has never set itself free of Christianity: wherever Christianity did not have a hand in the construction of modern philosophy it served instead as a stumbling block."
"For to love is to give what one is, his very being, in the most absolute, the most brazenly metaphysical, the least phenomenalizable sense of this word."
"It is impossible for a Christian to be a relativist."
"It has never been recommended to confuse "loving" with "seeking to please"… ...Salome pleased Herod's guests; I can hardly believe she was burning with love for them. As for poor John the Baptist... ...she certainly did not envelop him in her love."
"The day when efficacy would prevail over truth will never come for the Church, for then the gates of hell would have prevailed against her."
"When one's function is to teach the loftiest wisdom, it is difficult to resist the temptation to believe that until you have spoken, nothing has been said."
"Messieurs, nous avons un maître, ce jeune homme fait tout, peut tout, et veut tout."
"J'ai vécu."
"La mort sans phrase."
"Une nation de singes à larynx de parroquets."
"Celui qui n'a pas vécu au dix-huitième siècle avant la Révolution ne connaît pas la douceur de vivre et ne peut imaginer ce qu'il peut y avoir de bonheur dans la vie. C'est le siècle qui a forgé toutes les armes victorieuses contre cet insaisissable adversaire qu'on appelle l'ennui. L'Amour, la Poésie, la Musique, le Théâtre, la Peinture, l'Architecture, la Cour, les Salons, les Parcs et les Jardins, la Gastronomie, les Lettres, les Arts, les Sciences, tout concourait à la satisfaction des appétits physiques, intellectuels et même moraux, au raffinement de toutes les voluptés, de toutes les élégances et de tous les plaisirs. L'existence était si bien remplie qui si le dix-septième siècle a été le Grand Siècle des gloires, le dix-huitième a été celui des indigestions."
"Ce n'est pas un événement, c'est une nouvelle."
"Je connais quelqu'un qui a plus d'esprit que Napoléon, que Voltaire, que tous les ministres présents et futurs: c'est l'opinion."
"Vous ne jouez donc pas le whist, monsieur? Hélas! quelle triste vieilesse vous vous préparez!"
"C'est le commencement de la fin."
"Qui n'a pas vécu dans les années voisines de 1789 ne sait pas ce que c'est le plaisir de vivre."
"To succeed in the world, it is much more necessary to possess the penetration to discern who is a fool than to discover who is a clever man."
"The tricolour flag, symbol of revolution, was raised on the cathedral's towers and the bells rang to the frantic acclamation of the crowd. 'Listen to the tocsin! We are triumphing' remarked the Prince de Talleyrand gleefully: 'Who are we?' he was asked: 'Quiet! Not a word. I will tell you tomorrow' was the reply."
"There is no sentiment less aristocratic than that of nonbelief."
"Financiers flourish only when nations decline."
"Accessibility on the part of rulers ends by inspiring love rather than respect, and love evaporates at first sign of trouble."
"A diplomat who says "yes" means "maybe", a diplomat who says "maybe" means "no", and a diplomat who says "no" is no diplomat."
"To betray at the right time means to foresee."
"Black as the devil, hot as hell, pure as an angel, sweet as love (of coffee)."
"It is worse than a crime, it is a mistake."
"They have learned nothing, and forgotten nothing (and variations)."
"Napoleon was essentially a man of visions and impulses, every conjecture, every trick of circumstance only prompting him to more grand designs, only luring his eye to more untrodden hills. But Talleyrand could not go with him all the way, and, aristocrat at heart, would not consent to be a mute unreasoning tool. Talleyrand's thought was of that withering kind that was so fashionable and attractive in the gilded world of his youth. He talked with a wink and a smile, his sarcasm would charm a salon, and, in repartee, he would cover a sword-thrust with velvet; but always his was the talk of the sceptic rather than the enthusiast, the critic rather than the dreamer; he could be delightfully oblique, he was never daringly grand. He thought best when on the defensive. This is where he differed from his master. This is why he was able to play a sort of second critical self to Napoleon, checking his flights of ambition, softening his intemperate expressions, and moderating his indiscreet outbursts—and, on the positive side, furnishing him expedients rather than grand designs. Hence he was perhaps the man to know Napoleon, and realise the true situation of affairs, better than Napoleon himself."
"His age was venerable, his society was delightful, and there was an exhibition of conservative wisdom, ‘of moderate and healing counsels,’ in all his thoughts, words, and actions very becoming to his age and station, vastly influential from his sagacity and experience, and which presented him to the eyes of men as a statesman like Burleigh or Clarendon for prudence, temperance, and discretion."
"M. de Talleyrand, the most celebrated wit, courtier, and negotiator of his time. The public life of that celebrated man had not been free from the stains which, in times of frequent and violent change, are almost necessarily contracted by politicians. But it is just to say, that, if he was unfaithful to particular parties and particular families, he was in the main faithful to the interests of his country and to the great principles of government; that, though a revolutionist, he was never a jacobin; and that, though a minister of Napoleon, he had no share in the worst parts of the imperial tyranny."
"You are a thief, a coward, a man without faith. You don't believe in God; you have all your life failed in all your duties, you have deceived, betrayed everyone […] Look, sir, you are nothing but shit in silk stockings. (Vous êtes un voleur, un lâche, un homme sans foi. Vous ne croyez pas à Dieu ; vous avez toute votre vie manqué à tous vos devoirs, vous avez trompé, trahi tout le monde […] Tenez, Monsieur, vous n’êtes que de la merde en bas de soie.[This refers to the fact that Talleyrand always dressed in the old aristocratic fashion with breeches and stocking, while the Revolution and the Empire had led to the generalised use of full-length trousers previously used by the lower classes]"
"Un homme né pour les grands vices et les petites actions."
"A man born for great vices and small actions."
"It may seem odd to confess, but I never could discover on what grounds Talleyrand's great reputation as a Minister was built. I never found him a man of business, nor, I must say, able in affairs."
"He countered insult with a smile, and, when charged with lack of principle, was content to observe that the only sound principle was to have none. His unpopularity, then, is easily intelligible. Nothing alienates people more thoroughly than indifference, unless it be a rasping wit; and when Talleyrand spoke at all, he would always rather lose a friend than a jest."
"He was, in truth, a finished specimen of the homme politique. He aspired to govern not empires, but rulers; and such being his profession, it is not strange that vices and even crimes were imputed to him by those who lacked his knowledge and humour. But if he disdained to answer his accusers, he never ceased to believe in the loftiness of his patriotism and the grandeur of his policy. ‘Animated by the most devoted love of France,’ thus he wrote at the end of his career, ‘I have always served her conscientiously, and sought for her honestly that which I honestly believed to be most advantageous for her.’"
"Laissez faire, telle devrait être la devise de toute puissance publique, depuis que le monde est civilisé ... Détestable principe que celui de ne vouloir grandir que par l'abaissement de nos voisins! Il n'y a que la méchanceté et la malignité du coeur de satisfaites dans ce principe, et l’intérêt y est opposé. Laissez faire, morbleu! Laissez faire!!"
"Neither Germany nor Italy have doubts. Our crisis is not a material crisis. We have lost faith in our destiny...We are like mariners without a pilot."
"My country has been beaten and they are calling me back to make peace and sign an armistice...This is the work of 30 years of Marxism. They're calling me back to take charge of the nation."
"La terre, elle, ne ment pas [The land, it does not lie]."
"The only wealth you possess is your labour... France will become again what she should never have ceased to be—an essentially agricultural nation. Like the giant of mythology, she will recover all her strength by contact with the soil."
"Le Maréchal-paysan [The Marshal-peasant]."
"[Pétain is France's] noblest and most humane soldier."
"At seven o'clock [on 11 June 1940] we entered into conference. ... I urged the French Government to defend Paris. I emphasised the enormous absorbing power of the house-to-house defence of a great city upon an invading army. I recalled to Marshal Pétain the nights we had spent together in his train at Beauvais after the British Fifth Army disaster in 1918, and how he, as I put it, not mentioning Marshal Foch, had restored the situation. I also reminded him how Clemenceau had said: "I will fight in front of Paris, in Paris, and behind Paris." The Marshal replied very quietly and with dignity that in those days he had a mass of manoeuvre of upwards of sixty divisions; now there was none. He mentioned that there were then sixty British divisions in the line. Making Paris into a ruin would not affect the final event."
"[On 16 June 1940] Paul Reynaud was quite unable to overcome the unfavourable impression which the proposal of Anglo-French Union created. The defeatist section, led by Marshal Pétain, refused even to examine it. ... Weygand had convinced Pétain without much difficulty that England was lost. High French military authorities had advised: "In three weeks England will have her neck wrung like a chicken." To make a union with Great Britain was, according to Pétain, "fusion with a corpse"."
"Pétain has always been an anti-British defeatist, and is now a dotard."
"I am entirely with the Marshall [Pétain], I see him as the Father of the patrie, blessed with a good sense verging on genius, and as a truly providential man."
"Remember that France has always had two strings in its bow. In June 1940 it needed the Pétain "string" as much as the de Gaulle "string"."
"When Marshal Pétain offered to lay down French arms, he did not lay down arms that he still held, but ended a situation that every soldier could recognize as untenable. Only the blood-drenched dilettantism of a Mr. Churchill could fail to understand this or try to deny this in spite of better knowledge."
"Pétain never gave me the idea of a General whose personality or genius could lead huge armies to victory in a war where, at the right moment, a crashing attack was essential to defeat your formidable enemy. He was an able man and a good soldier. But he was essentially a Fabius Cunctator. He was careful and cautious even to the confines of timidity. His métier after the 1917 mutinies was that of a head nurse in a home for cases of shell-shock. ... Pétain did it well and successfully. There is no other French General who could have done it as well. ... Nevertheless, Foch's summing-up of him to Poincaré will be acknowledged by those who knew him as accurate and fair: “As second in command, carrying out orders, Pétain is perfect, but he shrinks from responsibility, and is not fitted for a Commander-in-Chief.” Both Poincaré and Clemenceau constantly complained of his pessimism. He was inclined to dwell on the gloomiest possibilities of a situation. Poincaré, in his Diary, said that in the German offensive Pétain was “defeatist.” He would have made an ineffective Commander-in-Chief for Allied Armies confronted with the problems of 1918."
"Marshal, here we are! Before you, France's saviour, We swear, we your people, To serve and follow your feats."
"Marshal, here we are! You regave us hope The Fatherland will be reborn, Marshal, Marshal, Here we are!"
"Some already in power allied themselves with Hitler, including his chief ally, Benito Mussolini; Marshal Pétain (1856-1951; died in prison), the French premier who surrendered much of France to the Nazis; Pierre Laval (1883-1945; executed), former French prime minister who became leader of the Vichy government he helped the Germans establish; Marshal Ion Antonescu (1882-1946; executed), the vehemently anti-Semitic and anti-Russian conducator of Romania, who forced King Carol II to abdicate, supported the Germans on the Eastern Front, and oversaw the murder of 380,000 Jews and 10,000 Gypsies; Boris III, tsar of Bulgaria (1894-1943; possibly poisoned), who agreed to deport 13,000 Jews from recently reannexed territories though protected those in Bulgaria; Admiral Miklós Horthy (1868-1957), Regent of Hungary who collaborated with the Nazis through fear of communism, but eventually broke with Hitler; and generals Georgios Tsolakoglou (1886-1948), Konstantinos Logothetopoulos (1878-1961) and Ioannis Rallis (4878-1946), Nazi puppets in Greece."
"For some, Pétain was simply "le drapeau," a personification of abiding Old France: an erect old soldier of austere tastes, of Catholic peasant stock, marshal of France, member of the French Academy, returning from his modest country estate once more to rescue his country from the rabble. On the other side, Pétain seemed less threatening to republicans than many another senior officer. ... Only the irreverent young right had mocked Pétain without compunction in the 1930's. In the summer of 1940, therefore, Pétain fitted the national mood to perfection: internally, a substitute for politics and a barrier to revolution; externally, a victorious general who would make no more war. Honor plus safety. ... Poincaré's memoirs suggest that Pétain expected French defeat in February and March 1918. Paul Valéry...in 1934, recalled...his reputation for pessimism. By 1940 these qualities had hardened into "morose skepticism." ... The 1917 alarms left their mark on Pétain's lifelong concern for patriotic morale. When Pétain claimed in the 1930's that education had become his main interest, he meant morale, not knowledge. In 1940 he was convinced...that unpatriotic schoolteachers had been responsible for French defeat."
"I had the impression of a marble statue; a Roman senator in a museum. Big, vigorous, an impressive figure, face impassive, of a pallor of a really marble hue... Pétain did not appear to me only as a soldier; his greatness does not only derive from his skill at directing a battle, but emanates from his entire personality. No one evokes better than he what the Romans called "great men.""
"I saw General Pétain first in his working room. A fair Pas-de-Calais man of medium height, with a firm and reserved aspect and a masterful regard; a soldier before all, and one with strong will and decided opinions. I was much attracted by him."
"Went round this morning to the H.Q. of the Armies of the Centre and saw Pétain. I sat in his room while he received all the morning reports, which were read out to him by his Chief of Staff, Colonel Serrigny. I was struck by the quick and businesslike methods of both, and by the acute, pungent, and penetrating remarks of the General."
"Cold, glacial even, this good-looking blond fellow, already going bald, attracted women and men alike by the intensity of the gaze of his blue eyes."
"Pétain's achievement [in resolving the 1917 mutinies] was in fact a greater, far greater miracle than the Marne. ... Immediately after the second war ended, I simply could not praise for his achievements the man who had so often, under the pretext of helping France, placed weapons in Hitler's hands to use against my country. But the years passed, and it seemed to me to be not only a great injustice to Marshal Pétain but a cruel distortion of history to allow the dust of years to settle on what is, I am convinced, a heroic achievement which in the First World War brought victory out of defeat."
"Being a member of EU comes with rights and benefits. Third countries (non members as the UK will be after Brexit) can never have the same rights and benefits since they are not subject to the same obligations. The single market and its four freedoms (which includes freedom of movement) are indivisible. Cherry picking is not an option."
"The UK's departure from the EU would have consequences"
"Nothing should put peace at risk"
"This negotiation will not only be financial, legal or technical - in my view, it will first [be] human and social and economic,"
"It's not about punishment, it is not about revenge. Basically, we are implementing the decision taken by the United Kingdom to leave the European Union, and unravel 43 years of patiently-built relations. I will do all I can to put emotion to one side and stick to the facts, the figures, and the legal basis, and work with the United Kingdom to find an agreement in that frame of mind."
"We must lift the uncertainty caused by Brexit"
"We want EU citizens in Britain to have the same rights as British citizens who live in the EU"
"I'm not hearing any whistling, just the clock ticking."
"There are extremely serious consequences of leaving the single market and it hasn't been explained to the British people."
"I have a state of mind - not aggressive... but I'm not naïve."
"We intend to teach people what leaving the single market means"
"[A deal on the common travel area between the UK and Republic of Ireland must] respect both the integrity of the single market... and the Good Friday Agreement in all its parts"
"No deal will be a very bad deal."
"To be clear: without a [border] backstop, there can be no withdrawal agreement"
"The UK's decision to opt out of free movement rules and largely end the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice means that the UK cannot take part in the European Arrest Warrant"
"The single market is our main economic public good. There will be no damaging it, no unravelling what we have achieved together with the UK."
"The EU is prepared to offer Britain a partnership such as there never has been with any other third country"
"Theresay May's plans] would be the end of the single market and the European project"
"[The Chequers plan] is useful because it clearly defines what the wishes are for the UK for future relations."
"It is not possible to get freedom for goods without freedom for services, in particular for the movement of people"
"Brexit was not our choice, it is the choice of the UK. Our proposal tries to help the UK in managing the negative fallout of Brexit in Northern Ireland in a way that respects the territorial integrity of the UK."
"We are still not there. There are still several issues which remain unresolved, including that of Ireland, and therefore what I understand is that more time is required to find this comprehensive deal and to reach this decisive progress which we need in order to finalise these negotiations on the orderly exit of the United Kingdom."
"[There are currently only two Brexit options - the PM's deal or no deal. Even if MPs decided to take no deal off the table, it would not stop it from happening unless there was] a positive majority for another solution."
"We are open to work on a permanent customs union should the UK decide to take this path"
"No deal was never our desire or intended scenario but the EU 27 is now prepared. It becomes day after day more likely."
"Everybody will have to pay a price - EU and UK - because there is no added value to Brexit. Brexit is a negative negotiation. It is a lose-lose game for everybody."
"On the EU side, we had intense discussions with EU member states on the need to guarantee the integrity of the EU's single market, while keeping that border fully open. In this sense, the [Irish border] backstop is the maximum amount of flexibility that the EU can offer to a non-member state."
"My colleague had two interviews with the Chancellor yesterday, one in the morning lasting about three-quarters of an hour, when he handed over the message from Mr. Chamberlain, the other in the afternoon lasting about half an hour. Sir Nevile made every effort to convince Herr Hitler that England would fight at Poland's side. He firmly believes, so he told me, that he had succeeded. For his part, the Chancellor spoke of almost nothing but the treatment of the German minorities in Poland. Should hostilities break out, the blame, he said, would be Britain's, and, recalling that he had made reasonable proposals last April, he alleged that the British guarantee had encouraged the Poles to ill-treat the German minorities and had stiffened the Warsaw Government in its uncompromising attitude; in his view, the limit had now been reached, and if, in Sir Nevile's own words, any fresh incidents were to take place against a German in Poland, "he would march." My colleague had asked Herr Hitler, should the latter have nothing further to say to him, to have his reply delivered to him at Salzburg. Herr Hitler had sent for him, and that was the only favourable sign that the British Ambassador had gathered from his visit. During the second interview, the Chancellor again emphasized strongly the necessity for putting an end to the ill-treatment which, according to him, was being meted out to the German minorities in Poland. Sir Nevile Henderson, while doubting whether there is still any hope of avoiding the worst, considers that the only chance of, at least, delaying matters lies in the immediate establishment of contact between Warsaw and Berlin. He has, therefore, suggested to his Government that it should advise M. Beck to seek contact with the Chancellor without delay. My colleague thinks that Herr Hitler is waiting for the return of Herr von Ribbentrop to take his final decision, and that therefore only a few hours remains for this final attempt. Herr Hitler is adopting precisely the same attitude toward Poland as he did towards Czechoslovakia in the last days of September."
"In the course of an interview with Sir Nevile Henderson today, Herr Hitler made the following statement to my colleague, the substance of which I report herewith as I had it from the latter. "I am prepared," said the Chancellor, "to make one more attempt to re-establish good relations between our countries and to preserve peace. I am willing to consider, within certain limits, a disarmament programme. I still want colonies, but I can wait, three, four or even five years; in any case, this will not be grounds for a war. Moreover, it need not be a question of the former German colonies. The important thing for me is to find fats and timber." My British colleague replied that to pass on these proposals with any hope of their being useful, he would have to be convinced that Germany would not attack Poland. Herr Hitler replied: "It is impossible for me to give any such undertaking; I prefer that you should not pass on my proposals." The British Ambassador has the impression, nevertheless, that hostilities will not break out during the 48 hours that his mission will take, for he is secretly leaving for London to-morrow morning by air. I asked my colleague if Herr Hitler had not referred to Poland. He answered that the Chancellor had repeated his claims of last April, namely, the return of Danzig, and access to the Free City across the Corridor."
"Voilà le soleil d'Austerlitz."
"Tous les méchants sont buveurs d'eau: C'est bien prouvé par le déluge."
"Un bon mourir vaut mieux qu'un mal vivre."
"Il faut envisager le passé sans regrets, le présent sans faiblesse, et l'avenir sans illusions."
"Le cœur a ses secrets pour guérir les blessures qu'il reçoit."
"Il y a des femmes qui traversent la vie, comme ces souffles des printemps qui vivifient tout sur leur passage."
"L'art de régner consiste surtout dans l'habileté des choix."
"L'amitié est le premier besoin du coeur, personne ne peut s'en passer."
"La sottise est une maladie contagieuse, surut chez les sots."
"C'est un mérite rare que celui de reconnaître son erreur."
"La pire des tyrannies est celle qui opprime la pensée."
"Un allié trop puissant devient souvent plus redoutable qu'un ennemi."
"Il y a bien peu de gens pour qui la vérité ne soit pas une sorte d'injure."
"Le temps ordinairement explique tout."
"Une femme adultère est une mère sans entrailles."
"Les grands parleurs sont comme les vases vides, qui sonnent plus que ceux qui sont pleins."
"La vie d'un homme de bien est un combat continuel contre les mauvais penchants."
"La bienfaisance ne vieillit jamais; elle s'améliore avec l'âge, et devient une habitude."
"Napoleon's career was too brief to enable men to see whether his course would undergo any change."