Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
The various modes of worship which prevailed in the Roman world were all considered by the people as equally true; by the philosopher as equally false; and by the magistrate as equally useful.
Style is the image of character.
Amiable weaknesses of human nature.
bizarreness masqueraded as creativity.
I sighed as a lover, I obeyed as a son.
Religion is a mere question of geography.
I was never less alone than when by myself.
The revenge of a guilty woman is implacable.
The first of earthly blessings, independence.
Revenge is profitable, gratitude is expensive.
Our ignorance is God; what we know is science.
Fanaticism obliterates the feelings of humanity.
A false modesty is the meanest species of pride.
Our work is the presentation of our capabilities.
Hope, the best comfort of our imperfect condition.
Where error is irreparable, repentance is useless.
Our sympathy is cold to the relation of distant misery.
To an active mind, indolence is more painful than labor.
The sentiment of fear is nearly allied to that of hatred.
All that is human must retrograde if it does not advance.
The fortune of nations has often depended on accidents . . .
[The monks'] minds were inaccessible to reason or mercy . . .
A heart to resolve, a head to contrive, and a hand to execute.
It was here that I suspended my religious inquiries (aged 17).
The progress of despotism tends to disappoint its own purpose.
In the end, they wanted security more than they wanted freedom.
The science of the laws is the slow growth of time and experience.
Corruption, the most infallible symptom of constitutional liberty.
[The] discretion of the judge is the first engine of tyranny . . .
Recluse fanatics have few ideas or sentiments to communicate . . .
The pathetic almost always consists in the detail of little events.
I darted a contemptuous look at the stately models of superstition.
A taste for books, which is still the pleasure and glory of my life.
It is the first care of a reformer to prevent any future reformation.
Rational confidence [is] the just result of knowledge and experience.
The laws of a nation form the most instructive portion of its history
But the works of man are impotent against the assaults of nature . . .
Flattery is a foolish suicide; she destroys herself with her own hands.
The winds and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.
The laws of probability, so true in general, so fallacious in particular.
There is more pleasure to building castles in the air than on the ground.
The first and indispensable requisite of happiness is a clear conscience.
The inactivity of a conqueror betrays the loss of strength and blood . . .
[Courage] arises in a great measure from the consciousness of strength . . .
And the winds and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.
Conversation enriches the understanding, but solitude is the school of genius.
The communication of ideas requires a similitude of thought and language . . .
[Arabs are] a people, whom it is dangerous to provoke, and fruitless to attack.
The voice of history is often little more than the organ of hatred or flattery.
War, in its fairest form, implies a perpetual violation of humanity and justice.
