“Of all the peoples of Europe, Spaniards disgust me the least.”

“Show me a family of readers, and I will show you the people who move the world.”

“What is a throne? — a bit of wood gilded and covered in velvet. I am the state— I alone am here the representative of the people. Even if I had done wrong you should not have reproached me in public—people wash their dirty linen at home. France has more need of me than I of France.”

“Orders and decorations are necessary in order to dazzle the people.”

“History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon.”

“Ten people who speak make more noise than ten thousand who are silent.”

“The reason most people fail instead of succeed is they trade what they want most for what they want at the moment.”