What we dignify with the name of peace is really only a short truce, in accordance with which the weaker party renounces his claims, whether just or unjust, until such time as he can find an opportunity of asserting them with the sword.

It is a great sign of mediocrity to praise always moderately.

Men sometimes feel injured by praise because it assigns a limit to their merit.

We promise much to avoid giving little.

Servitude debases men to the point where they end up liking it.

When a thought is too weak to be expressed simply, it should be rejected.

We must expect everything and fear everything from time and from men.

Vice foments war; it is virtue which actually fights. If there were no virtue, we would live in peace forever.

The young suffer less from their own errors than from the cautiousness of the old.