The wind and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators

The author himself is the best judge of his own performance; none has so deeply meditated on the subject; none is so sincerely interested in the event.

The laws of probability, so true in general, so fallacious in particular.

I was never less alone than when by myself.

Where error is irreparable, repentance is useless.

In every deed of mischief he [Comenus] had a heart to resolve, a head to contrive, and a hand to execute.

The urgent consideration of the public safety may undoubtedly authorize the violation of every positive law. How far that or any other consideration may operate to dissolve the natural obligations of humanity and justice, is...

The ecclesiastical writers, who, in the heat of religious faction, are apt to despise the profane virtues of sincerity and moderation.

The principles of a free constitution are irrecoverably lost, when the legislative power is nominated by the executive

The winds and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.

All that is human must retrograde if it does not advance.

Their poverty secured their freedom, since our desires and our possessions are the strongest fetters of despotism

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

The courage of a soldier is found to be the cheapest and most common quality of human nature.

Revenge is profitable, gratitude is expensive

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.

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 false; and by the magistrate as equally useful.

Of the various forms of government which have prevailed in the world, an hereditary monarchy seems to present the fairest scope for ridicule

I understand by this passion the union of desire, friendship, and tenderness, which is inflamed by a single female, which prefers her to the rest of her sex, and which seeks her possession as the...

Vicissitudes of fortune, which spares neither man nor the proudest of his works, which buries empires and cities in a common grave.

… but I must reluctantly observe that two causes, the abbreviation of time, and the failure of hope, will always tinge with a browner shade the evening of life.

A martial nobility and stubborn commons, possessed of arms, tenacious of property, and collected into constitutional assemblies form the only balance capable of preserving a free constitution against the enterprise of an aspiring prince

If the empire had been afflicted by any recent calamity, by a plague, a famine, or an unsuccessful war; if the Tiber had, or if the Nile had not, risen beyond its banks; if the...

It was an inflexible maxim of Roman discipline that good soldier should dread his own officers far more than the enemy

Fanaticism obliterates the feelings of humanity.

Our work is the presentation of our capabilities.

History is indeed little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.

War, in its fairest form, implies a perpetual violation of humanity and justice.

As long as mankind shall continue to bestow more liberal applause on their destroyers than on their benefactors, the thirst of military glory will ever be the vice of the most exalted characters

The army is the only order of men sufficiently united to concur in the same sentiments, and powerful enough to impose them on the rest of their fellow-citizens; but the temper of soldiers, habituated at...

A state of scepticism and suspense may amuse a few inquisitive minds. But the practice of superstition is so congenial to the multitude, that if they are forcibly awakened, they still regret the loss of...

The pathetic almost always consists in the detail of little events.

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

Truth, naked, unblushing truth, the first virtue of all serious history, must be the sole recommendation of this personal narrative.

My early and invincible love of reading–I would not exchange for the treasures of India.

My English text is chaste, and all licentious passages are left in the decent obscurity of a learned language.

The style of an author should be the image of his mind, but the choice and command of language is the fruit of exercise.

History is little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind

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

Style is the image of character.

Books are those faithful mirrors that reflect to our mind the minds of sages and heroes.

I was never less alone than when by myself

Of the three Popes, John the Twenty-third was the first victim; he fled and was brought back a prisoner; the most scandalous charges were suppressed; the Vicar of Christ was only accused of piracy, murder,...

The clergy successfully preached the doctrines of patience and pusillanimity; the active virtues of society were discouraged; and the last remains of a military spirit were buried in the cloister: a large portion of public...

Beauty is an outward gift which is seldom despised, except by those to whom it has been refused

Decent easy men, who supinely enjoyed the gifts of the founder.

During the age of Christ, of his apostles, and of their first disciples, the doctrine which they preached was confirmed by innumerable prodigies. The lame walked, the blind saw, the sick were healed, the dead...

Every man who rises above the common level has received two educations: the first from his teachers; the second, more personal and important, from himself

The theologians may indulge the pleasing task of describing religion as she descended from Heaven, arrayed in her native purity. A more melancholy duty is imposed on the historian [read: journalist] He must discover the...

But the power of instruction is seldom of much efficacy, except in those happy dispositions where it is almost superfluous