“Monarchy hardens into despotism. Aristocracy contracts into oligarchy. Democracy expands into the supremacy of numbers.”

Liberty, next to religion has been the motive of good deeds and the common pretext of crime.

Learn as much by writing as by reading.

Limitation is essential to authority. A government is legitimate only if it is effectively limited.

Authority that does not exist for Liberty is not authority but force.

The strong man with the dagger is followed by the weak man with the sponge.

There is not a more perilous or immoral habit of mind than the sanctifying of success.

Judge talent at its best and character at its worst.

Feudalism made land the measure and the master of all things.

The possession of unlimited power corrodes the conscience, hardens the heart, and confounds the understanding.

Before God, there is neither Greek nor barbarian, neither rich nor poor, and the slave is as good as his master, for by birth all men are free; they are citizens of the universal commonwealth which embraces all the world, brethren of one family, and children of God.

Official truth is not actual truth.

Do not turn yourself from an end into a means-one does not justify the other.

I’m not a driven businessman, but a driven artist. I never think about money. Beautiful things make money.

A people averse to the institution of private property is without the first elements of freedom

Character is tested by true sentiments more than by conduct. A man is seldom better than his word.

Federalism is the best curb on democracy. [It] assigns limited powers to the central government. Thereby all power is limited. It excludes absolute power of the majority.

I have three kids, the oldest is 18 and her friends are going to see it The Aristocrats because they told her they’re going to see it, especially her guy friends.

Aristocracy has three successive ages. First superiority s, then privileges and finally vanities. Having passed from the first, it degenerates in the second and dies in the third.

There is an aristocracy of the sensitive. They represent the true human tradition of permanent victory over cruelty and chaos.

There is only one true aristocracy . . . and that is the aristocracy of passionate souls!