Cardinal de Retz

“Nothing convinces persons of a weak understanding so effectually, as what they do not comprehend.”

“We are more often treacherous through weakness than through calculation.”

“There are no small steps in great affairs.”

“It is a greater proof of nobility of soul to be able to moderate one's joy than one's grief.”

“One is more often guilty of imprudence in this world than of ill-nature.”

“The most dangerous of all flattery is the inferiority of those who surround us.”

“The greatest dangers have their charms, because there is some glory to be got, even when we miscarry.”

“It is often lazier and easier to acquiesce to the opinions of others than to think for oneself.”

“More great events have been caused by trifles than by things of consequence.”

“True glory is to be sought only in duty and not in the event.”

“Irresolution is, of all the distempers of the soul, the most dangerous.”

“A capacity for repartee is a talent which rises of itself.”

“Fear, when it does not succumb to reason, is the most intransigent of all the passions.”

“The man of the greatest soul is the one who feels the greatest compassion.”

“The talent of turning men into ridicule... is the great qualification of little minds.”

“There is nothing in this world that does not have a decisive moment.”

“A man who does not trust himself can never truly trust anyone else.”

“What is necessary is not always possible.”

“True eloquence consists in saying all that is necessary, and nothing but what is necessary.”

“The right of the people is the most powerful of all motives.”