Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.

Under a good administration, the Nile gains on the desert. Under a bad one, the desert gains on the Nile.

To write history one must be more than a man, since the author who holds the pen of this great justiciary must be free from all preoccupation of interest or vanity.

History is a set of lies agreed upon.

A picture is worth a thousand words.

If I had to choose a religion, the sun as the universal giver of life would be my god.

Show me a family of readers, and I will show you the people who move the world.

Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action comes, stop thinking and go in.

Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.

Men are more easily governed through their vices than through their virtues.

It is the cause, not the death, that makes the martyr.

The herd seek out the great, not for their sake but for their influence; and the great welcome them out of vanity or need.

In our time no one has the conception of what is great. It is up to me to show them.

The only victories which leave no regret are those which are gained over ignorance.

The surest way to remain poor is to be honest.

Courage is like love, it must have hope for nourishment.

Music is what tell us that the human race is greater than we realize.

Imagination governs the world.

Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet. Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.

Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded his empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for him.

I often asked Laplace what he thought of God. He owned that he was an atheist.

History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon.

History is written by the winners.

Courage isn’t having the strength to go on – it is going on when you don’t have strength.

In politics, stupidity is not a handicap.

There is no place in a fanatic’s head where reason can enter.

Never ascribe to malice that which can adequately be explained by incompetence.

The hand that gives is among the hand that takes. Money has no fatherland, financiers are without patriotism and without decency, their sole object is gain.

England is a nation of shopkeepers.

I am surrounded by priests who repeat incessantly that their kingdom is not of this world, and yet they lay hands on everything they can get.

Un bon croquis vaut mieux qu’un long discours (A good sketch is better than a long speech)

A leader is a dealer in hope.

A revolution is an idea, taken up by bayonets.

Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.

Men of learning in Milan have not enjoyed proper respect. They hid themselves in their laboratories and thought themselves lucky if . . . priests left them alone. All is changed today. Thought in Italy is free. Inquisition, intolerance, despots have vanished. I invite scholars to meet and propose what must be done to give...

A woman laughing is a woman conquered.