“Those who have few affairs to attend to are great speakers. The less men think, the more they talk.”

A really intelligent man feels what other men only know.

The less luxury there is in a republic, the more it is perfect.

It is rare to find learned men who are clean, do not stink and have a sense of humour.

I have never known any distress that an hour’s reading did not relieve.

Every man who has power is impelled to abuse it.

I like peasants-they are not sophisticated enough to reason speciously.

There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetuated under the shield of law and in the name of justice.

The history of commerce is that of the communication of the people.

Republics are brought to their ends by luxury; monarchies by poverty.

Better it is to say that the government most comfortable to nature is that which best agrees with the humor and disposition of the people in whose favor it is established.

If I knew something that would serve my country but would harm mankind, I would never reveal it; for I am a citizen of humanity first and by necessity, and a citizen of France second, and only by accident

I never listen to calumnies, because if they are untrue I run the risk of being deceived, and if they be true, of hating persons not worth thinking about.

I have always observed that to succeed in the world one should seem a fool, but be wise.

In the birth of societies it is the chiefs of states who give it its special character; and afterward it is this special character that forms the chiefs of state.

In the infancy of societies, the chiefs of state shape its institutions; later the institutions shape the chiefs of state.

To succeed in the world we must look foolish but be wise.

Life is all about taking risk to get what you want.

For all the years I’d spent talking about pictures, the truth was that I had no idea how to draw or what it felt like to do it. I

Okay? That’s despicable. Right? That’s not what we’re talking about here. Whatever does it for you, man.

Don’t use the language of ‘good’ or ‘bad’ when talking about blood sugar numbers

Ronald Reagan perfected the subtler version long ago by talking about “welfare mothers” – a code phrase for people of colour.

There’s no conversation more boring than talking about what it’s really like to live in Newport and how the show compares to the real thing. I just don’t care.

I’m always talking about how the poems I am most obsessed with are like people: complex and unknowable and with a huge capacity for many different emotions.

All really frank people are amusing, and would remain so if they could remember that other people may sometimes want to be frank and amusing too.