The pilgrimage of Italy, which I now accomplished, had long been the object of my curious devotion. The passage of Mount Cenis, the regular streets of Turin, the Gothic cathedral of Milan, the scenery...
War, in its fairest form, implies a perpetual violation of humanity and justice.
Of the various forms of government which have prevailed in the world, an hereditary monarchy seems to present the fairest scope for ridicule.
Unchecked power corrupts.
Whose one hundred and twenty-nine homilies are still extant, if what no one reads may be said to be extant.]
But the power of instruction is seldom of much efficacy, except in those happy dispositions where it is almost superfluous.
A reformer should be exempt from the suspicion of interest, and he must possess the confidence and esteem of those whom he proposes to reclaim.
It was scarcely possible that the eyes of contemporaries should discover in the public felicity the latent causes of decay and corruption. This long peace, and the uniform government of the Romans, in...
Under a democratical government, the citizens exercise the powers of sovereignty; and those powers will be first abused, and afterwards lost, if they are committed to an unwieldy multitude.
But his days were shortened by poison, perhaps the most incurable of poisons; the stings of remorse and despair, and the bitter remembrance of lost glory.
The fundamental maxim of Artistotle, that true virtue is placed at an equal distance between the opposite vices.
Their poverty secured their freedom, since our desires and our possessions are the strongest fetters of despotism.
The principles of a free constitution are irrecoverably lost, when the legislative power is nominated by the executive.
Active valour may often be the present of nature; but such patient diligence can be the fruit only of habit and discipline.
During many ages, the prediction, as it is usual, contributed to its own accomplishment.
In the reign of the emperor Caracalla, an innumerable swarm of Suevi appeared on the banks of the Main, and in the neighbourhood of the Roman provinces, in quest either of food, of plunder, or of glor...
Justice, humanity, or political wisdom, are qualities they are too little acquainted with in themselves, to appreciate them in others. Valor will acquire their esteem, and liberality will purchase the...
Once the monarchy was abolished, a decree was passed that there would be no more kings in Rome.
The attack of a man, equipped with erudition, and of perfectly sober judgment, on cherished beliefs and revered institutions, must always excite the interest, by irritating the passions, of men.
The descendants of Abraham were flattered by the opinion, that they alone were the heirs of the covenant, and they were apprehensive of diminishing the value of their inheritance, by sharing it too ea...
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