The Jew is what we make of him.
If the slaves wait for freedom until they grow smarter, they will have a long time to wait…
The law exists in vain for those who have neither the courage nor the means to defend it.
A small good deed is better than the most solemn promises to do the impossible.
He who, joining educated literary society, aspires to become a great poet, must, at first, become a little child. He must sift the fabric of his soul. He must forget much of what, perhaps, until now was for him a foundation of his own superiority. His talents will be an obstacle for him.
The love of the crowd resembles the love of that voluptuous sorceress of the Arabian stories, who not only left her lovers after forty days of tenderness on her part, but also compelled them - by the most terrible punishments - to atone for their guilt and pay because he once liked them too much.
Louis XIV, more than anyone else, demonstrated two of the talents required of a king: to choose his companions well and to assign the lion's share of their merits.
The purpose of the mirror is not to draw on it.
Violence is the essence of war.
The forced subordination of colonies is usually more expensive than they actually cost.
Nowadays, a real university is a collection of books.
It is no exaggeration when it is said that Shakespeare's great works would lose less if they were deprived of all the so-called beauties, than they lose these beautiful places, when they are read apart from the whole of the work. This may be the highest praise that can be paid to a playwright.
There is nothing more useless than universal rules.
There is nothing more absurd than a maxim on a general theme.
Nothing is more useful to a people than freedom of trade—and nothing more unpopular.
There is no more destructive power than the ability to portray people in a funny way.
The new philosophy is a philosophy that never rests, that never reaches its goal, its perfection. Its law is progress. The area that was not visible yesterday is today its place of action, and tomorrow will be its starting point.
About England: Our democracy was from the beginning aristocratic, and our aristocracy was the most democratic in the world.
An acre of land in Middlesex is better than a principality in Utopia.
The first fruits gathered by a bad husbandman are often planted by a good husbandman.
According to Plato, man is made for philosophy, according to Bacon - philosophy is made for man.
Poetry does not need an analytical spirit, but a faithful spirit.
The rulers should not accuse the people of lack of patriotism, but should do everything in their power to make them patriots.
The causes of a conflict multiply with the naked eye.
A Puritan hates bear hunting not because it causes pain to the bear, but because it gives pleasure to the public.
Those who compare the century in which they are destined to live with the golden age, which exists only in our imaginations, may speak of degeneration and collapse; but she who knows the past well, will never be discouraged by it.
What interests everyone, interests no one.
In war, measure is an unpardonable folly.
The wise...have always looked with great suspicion upon both the angels and the demons of the crowd.
A philosophy which can teach man to be absolutely happy, even in the face of unbearable pain, is far better than a philosophy which soothes pain... A philosophy which fights against greed is far better than a philosophy which makes laws for protecting property.