The republic is the only remedy for the ills of monarchy, and monarchy the only remedy for the ills of the republic.

Events. Teach men lessons and are never without benefit.

— ... where the accusers are almost always guilty.

Before giving a child his family’s name, examine whether he has its distinctive qualities.

December 4, 1791

Reading Plato is like mountain air. It does not nourish, but it sharpens our organs and gives us a taste for good food.

— Those countries where there is nothing old — in the houses.

Socrates said of the dead, in the Cratylus, “they are so happy that they no longer wish to return.”

Through memory we travel back against time; through forgetting we follow its course.

Hands of iron, incapable of ever becoming able to handle anything, for those who have a passion for theft.

— Not every subject lends itself to discussion in oratorical form...

— He has scaled the walls? — Fetters on his feet... A gag for the swindler, handcuffs for the thief. Confinement for the turbulent.

— Property that is owed has neither heirs nor master.

— Weep for them as absent, not as lost.

... those who have neither houses nor tombs are strangers, — not inhabitants.