"Man only blames himself in order that..." - Quote by Francois De La Rochefoucauld

“Passion makes idiots of the cleverest men, and makes the biggest idiots clever.”

“Reconciliation with our enemies is simply a desire to better our condition, a weariness of war, or the fear of some unlucky thing from occurring.”

“In their early passions women are in love with the lover, later they are in love with love.”

“Everything runs to excess; every good quality is noxious if unmixed.”

“I think people - what people want to do is make [economy] get worse.”

“Melt all the guns, I thought, break the knives, burn the guillotines-and the malicious will still write letters that kill.”

“isn't so astonishing, the number of things that I can remember, as the number of things I can remember that aren't so.”

“Of all our faults, the one we avow most easily is idleness; we persuade ourselves that it is allied to all the peaceable virtues,and as for the others, that it does not destroy them utterly, but only suspends the exercise of their functions.”

“There is nothing that deceives us more than our own judgment when used to give an opinion on our own works. It is sound in judging the work of our enemies but not that of our friends, for hate and love are two of the most powerfully motivating factors found among living things.”