When justice is more certain and more mild, is at the same time more efficacious.

I do not know if the people of the United States would vote for superior men if they ran for office, but there can be no doubt that such men do not run.

Society is endangered not by the great profligacy of a few, but by the laxity of morals amongst all.

everybody feels the evil, but no one has courage or energy enough to seek the cure

On close inspection, we shall find that religion, and not fear, has ever been the cause of the long-lived prosperity of an absolute government.

The happy and powerful do not go into exile, and there are no surer guarantees of equality among men than poverty and misfortune.

I am unaware of his plans but I shall never stop believing in them because I cannot fathom them and I prefer to mistrust my own intellectual capacities than his justice.

Nations, as well as men, almost always betray the most prominent features of their future destiny in their earliest years.

A whole nation cannot rise above itself.

The whole people contracts the habits and tastes of the magistrate.

For benefits by their very greatness spotlight the difference in conditions and arouse a secret annoyance in those who profit from them. But the charm of simple good manners is almost irresistible.

Because philosophy arises from awe, a philosopher is bound in his way to be a lover of myths and poetic fables. Poets and philosophers are alike in being big with wonder.

To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life.

Every now and then we're going to fail.

If you see a river running smoothly, it's because someone has drowned in it, and if it's raging, it means that it's still got bloodlust.

Temptation is an irresistible force at work on a movable body.

The Limeys want us in even with our hastily made plans and our half-trained and half-equipped troops.

Books are solitudes in which we meet.

The key to success is to find a way to stand out--to be the purple cow in a field of monochrome Holsteins.

One of the joys of writing music is making your own mark. Study other stuff, immerse yourself in music and then tell your own truth.