"The wish to acquire more is admittedly a very natural and common thing and when men succeed in this they are always praised rather than condemned. But when they lack the ability to do so and yet want to acquire more at all costs, they deserve condemnation for their mistakes."

"It is not titles that honor men, but men that honor titles."

"It is necessary for him who lays out a state and arranges laws for it to presuppose that all men are evil and that they are always going to act according to the wickedness of their spirits whenever they have free scope."

"Whoever conquers a free town and does not demolish it commits a great error and may expect to be ruined himself."

"The ordinary man with extraordinary power is the chief danger for mankind - not the fiend or the sadist."

"I know what Germans are. They are a funny people. They are always choosing someone to lead them in a direction which they do not want to go."

"To teach how to live without certainty and yet without being paralysed by hesitation is perhaps the chief thing that philosophy, in our age, can do for those who study it."

"Experience is the stern teacher that gives the examination before the lesson. Let this simple maxim guide your daily deeds."