“Sometimes a man who deserves to be looked upon because he is a fool is despised only because he is a lawyer.”

I have read descriptions of Paradise that would make any sensible person stop wanting to go there.

It is requisite the government be so constituted as one man need not be afraid of another.

Experience constantly proves that every man who has power is impelled to abuse it; he goes on till he is pulled up by some limits. Who would say it! virtue even has need of limits.

Democracy is corrupted not only when the spirit of equality is corrupted, but likewise when they fall into a spirit of extreme equality.

Slowness is frequently the cause of much greater slowness.

I suffer from the disease of writing books and being ashamed of them when they are finished.

There is something in animals beside the power of motion. They are not machines; they feel.

Wonderful maxim: not to talk of things any more after they are done.

An injustice to one is a threat made to all

The law of nations is naturally founded on this principle, that different nations ought in time of peace to do one another all the good they can, and in time of war as little injury as possible, without prejudicing their real interests.

Republics end through luxury; monarchies through poverty.

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.

If my resolution to be a great man was half so strong as it is to despise the shame of being a little one.

Part of our society kills what it loves, despises what it’s created. It really hates success.

I despise politics. There is no room for it in a company. My life is going to be way too short to deal with that.

There is a story of an Oxford student who once remarked, “I despise all Americans, but have never met one I didn’t like.”

To my disappointment I now realized that to know all is not to forgive all. It is to despise everybody.

Foolish the doctor who despises the knowledge acquired by the ancients.

Of all our infirmities, the most savage is to despise our being.

If you value a man’s regard, strive with him. As to liking, you like your newspaper – and despise it.