The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.

In private enterprises men may advance or recede, whereas they who aim at empire have no alternative between the highest success and utter downfall.

Great empires are not maintained by timidity.

Things are not to be judged good or bad merely because the public think so.

So obscure are the greatest events, as some take for granted any hearsay, whatever its source, others turn truth into falsehood, and both errors find encouragement with posterity.

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