When you are obliged to make a statement that you know will cause displeasure, you must say it with every appearance of sincerity; this is the only w….

The man who can own up to his error is greater than he who merely knows how to avoid making it..

Of all the passions, fear weakens judgment most..

Great men help dazzle the people; after that, they dazzle themselves even more dangerously..

There are no small steps in great affairs..

Every man whom chance alone has, by some accident, made a public character, hardly ever fails of becoming, in a short time, a ridiculous private one..

A man who never trusts himself never trusts anyone..

Persecution to persons in a high rank stands them in the stead of eminent virtue..

A man who doesn't trust himself can never really trust anyone else..

Weakness has many stages. There is a difference between feebleness by the impotency of the will, of the will to the resolution, of the resolution to ….

Timorous minds are much more inclined to deliberate than to resolve..

Nothing indicates the soundness of a man's judgment so much as knowing how to choose between two disadvantages..

Every numerous assembly is a mob; everything there depends on instantaneous turns..

One of man's greatest failings is that he looks almost always for an excuse, in the misfortune that befalls him through his own fault, before looking….

Most men only commit great crimes because of their scruples about petty ones..

Nothing sways the stupid more than arguments they can't understand..

It's easier to fight one's enemies than to get on with one's friends..

Where princes are concerned, a man who is able to do good is as dangerous and almost as criminal as a man who intends to do evil..

The most mistrustful are often the greatest dupes..

If you have to make an unpopular speech, give it all the sincerity you can muster; that's the only way to sweeten it..

What is necessary is never a risk..