I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know no way of judging of the future but by the past..

We improve ourselves by victories over ourselves. There must be contest, and we must win..

Our ignorance is God; what we know is science..

The Roman government appeared every day less formidable to its enemies, more odious and oppressive to its subjects..

The decline of Rome was the natural and inevitable effect of immoderate greatness. Prosperity ripened the principle of decay; the cause of the destru….

A heart to resolve, a head to contrive, and a hand to execute..

In the end, more than freedom, they wanted security. They wanted a comfortable life, and they lost it all – security, comfort, and freedom. When the ….

Ignorant of the arts of luxury, the primitive Romans had improved the science of government and war..

Conversation enriches the understanding, but solitude is the school of genius..

The various modes of worship which prevailed in the Roman world were all considered by the people as equally true; by the philosopher as equally fals….

An extensive empire must be supported by a refined system of policy and oppression; in the centre, an absolute power, prompt in action and rich in re….

I never make the mistake of arguing with people for whose opinions I have no respect..

So long as mankind shall continue to lavish more praise upon its destroyers than upon its benefactors war shall remain the chief pursuit of ambitious….

The savage nations of the globe are the common enemies of civilized society; and we may inquire, with anxious curiosity, whether Europe is still thre….

If a man were called to fix the period in the history of the world during which the condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous, he wou….

Every person has two educations, one which he receives from others, and one, more important, which he gives to himself..

I am indeed rich, since my income is superior to my expenses, and my expense is equal to my wishes..

It is scarcely possible that the eyes of contemporaries should discover in the public felicity the latent causes of decay and corruption. This long p….

A nation ignorant of the equal benefits of liberty and law, must be awed by the flashes of arbitrary power: the cruelty of a despot will assume the c….

There exists in human nature a strong propensity to depreciate the advantages, and to magnify the evils, of the present times..

As long as mankind shall continue to bestow more liberal applause on their destroyers than on their benefactors, the thirst of military glory will ev….