“Who the first inhabitants of Britain were, whether natives or immigrants, remains obscure; one must remember we are dealing with barbarians.”

To rob, to ravage, to murder, in their imposing language, are the arts of civil policy. When they have made the world a solitude, they call it peace.

The brave and bold persist even against fortune; the timid and cowardly rush to despair though fear alone.

They make a desert and call it peace.

It is of eloquence as of a flame; it requires matter to feed it, and motion to excite it; and it brightens as it burns.

An eminent reputation is as dangerous as a bad one.

It is a characteristic of the human mind to hate the man one has injured.

No one would have doubted his ability to reign had he never been emperor.

Eloquence wins its great and enduring fame quite as much from the benches of our opponents as from those of our friends.

A desire to resist oppression is implanted in the nature of man.

Crime succeeds by sudden despatch; honest counsels gain vigor by delay.

Noble character is best appreciated in those ages in which it can most readily develop.

It is a part of the nature of man to resist compulsion.

The love of fame is the last weakness which even the wise resign.

Every recreant who proved his timidity in the hour of danger, was afterwards boldest in words and tongue.

When the State is corrupt, then the laws are most multiplied.

The changeful change of circumstances. [Lat., Varia sors rerum.]

Barbarian invasions would be superfluous: We are our own Huns.

I’m not a barbarian.

The middle class, that prisoner of the barbarian 20th century.

Farming as we do it is hunting, and in the sea we act like barbarians.

But China, they’ve been there for 3,000 years and are paying no attention to the barbarians and don’t see any need to.