A true king is neither husband nor father; he considers his throne and nothing else.

In recounting our woes, we often soothe them.

The subject of a good tragedy must not be realistic.

Happiness seems made to be shared.

When there is no peril in the fight there is no glory in the triumph.

They who overcome their desires once can overcome them always.

I see, I know, I believe, I am undeceived.

We never taste a perfect joy; our happiest successes are mixed with sadness.

We never taste happiness in perfection, our most fortunate successes are mixed with sadness.

After having won a scepter, few are so generous as to disdain the pleasures of ruling.

Each instant of life is a step toward death.

A first impulse was never a crime.

We triumph without glory when we conquer without danger.

One is often guilty by being too just.

To win without risk is to triumph without glory.

Do your duty and leave the rest to heaven.

One often calms one’s grief by recounting it.

The greater the effort, the greater the glory.

The manner of giving is worth more than the gift.

Force is legitimate where gentleness avails not.

It is a crime against the State to be powerful enough to commit one.

A Victory without danger is a triumph without glory.

Peace is produced by war.

How delicious is pleasure after torment!

Self-love is the source of all our other loves.

Deceit is the game of petty spirits, and that is by nature a woman’s quality.

One half of my life has put the other half in the grave.

He who allows me to rule is in fact my master.

He who allows himself to be insulted deserves to be.

To he who avenges a father, nothing is impossible.

In the service of Caesar, everything is legitimate.

Severity is allowable where gentleness has no effect.

He who is hated by all can not expect to live long.

To conquer without danger is to conquer without glory.

I agree to, or rather aspire to, my doom.

Oh rage! Oh despair! Oh age, my enemy!

He who does not fear death cares naught for threats.

To vanquish without peril is to triumph without glory.

Reason and love are sworn enemies.

Brave men are brave from the very first.

True, I am young, but for souls nobly born valor doesn’t await the passing of years.

Guess, if you can, and choose, if you dare.

When the patient loves his disease, how unwilling he is to allow a remedy to be applied.

Oh, how sweet it is to pity the fate of an enemy who can no longer threaten us!

Just vengeance does not call for punishment.

I have deserved neither so much honor or so much disgrace.

To take revenge halfheartedly is to court disaster; either condemn or crown your hatred.

Desire increases when fulfillment is postponed.

It matters more how one gives than what one gives.

A true king is neither husband nor father; he considers his throne and nothing else.

It takes good memory to keep up a lie.

Master of the universe but not of myself, I am the only rebel against my absolute power.

Alas, I emerge from one disaster to fall into a worse.

I don’t know how to defend myself: surprised innocence cannot imagine being under suspicion.

Every man of courage is a man of his word.

As great as kings may be, they are what we are: they can err like other men.

He who forgives readily only invites offense.

An example is often a deceptive mirror, and the order of destiny, so troubling to our thoughts, is not always found written in things past.

The crime and not the scaffold makes the shame.

He who pardons easily invites offense.

I would not like a king who could obey.

This dark brightness that falls from the stars.

To die for one’s country is such a worthy fate that all compete for so beautiful a death.

A good memory is needed after one has lied.

He who fears not death fears not a threat.

Flee an enemy who knows your weakness.

One ought to have a good memory when he has told a lie.

A liar is always lavish of oaths.

Treachery is noble when aimed at tyranny.

Those who easily forgive invite offenses.

Clemency is the noblest trait which can reveal a true monarch to the world.

Ambition aspires to descend.

I can be forced to live without happiness, but I will never consent to live without honor.

He who plays advisor is no longer ambassador.

My reason, it’s true, controls my feelings, but whatever its authority, it doesn’t rule them so much as tyrannize them.

Love is a tyrant sparing none.

When we conquer without danger our triumph is without glory.

My sweetest hope is to lose hope.

Danger breeds best on too much confidence.

He who can live in infamy is unworthy of life.

It is the crime not the scaffold which is the disgrace.