It is not easy for a person to do any great harm when his tenure of office is short, whereas long possession begets tyranny.

Happiness seems to require a modicum of external prosperity.

It is not the possessions but the desires of mankind which require to be equalized.

One swallow does not make a summer; neither does one fine day.

The man with a host of friends who slaps on the back everybody he meets is regarded as the friend of nobody.

It is evident that the state is a creation of nature, and that man is by nature a political animal.

Those who think that all virtue is to be found in their own party principles push matters to extremes; they do not consider that disproportion destroys a state.

This is the reason why mothers are more devoted to their children than fathers: it is that they suffer more in giving them birth and are more certain that they are their own.

In painting, the most brilliant colors, spread at random and without design, will give far less pleasure than the simplest outline of a figure.

We are better able to study our neighbors than ourselves, and their actions than our own.