Political trials are always vain formalities; for the very passions that produce the accusation also lead to the condemnation. Such is the terrible logic of revolutions.
~Alexandre Dumas, Twenty Years After
Category: wisdom
Quotes – The Heights of Criticism
Very little achievement is required in order to pity another man’s shortcomings.
~George Eliot, Middlemarch
Quotes – Sycophancy
As long as a man is in command, be he the worst of fools, there are people around him committed to the belief that he commands well.
~Maurice Druon
Quotes – The Boldness of Stupidity
Stupidity is no bar to enterprise; on the contrary, it tends to conceal difficulties which an intelligent man would consider insuperable.
~Maurice Druon
Quotes – The Veracity of History
It is terrifying to think how much research is needed to determine the truth of even the most unimportant fact.
~Stendhal
Quotes – The Risks of a Regal Soul
It is a great misfortune to be born with the soul of a king if one is not destined to reign.
~Maurice Druon
Quotes – Foundations of Friendship
The best friendships are based on mutual interest and common plans for the future.
~Maurice Druon
Quotes – When Courage Falters
There are lists in which the bravest of warriors prove themselves singularly clumsy.
~Maurice Druon, The She Wolf
Quotes – The Finality of Success
When the house is finished, death follows.
~Turkish proverb
Quote – The Struggle For Success
What is success? A mysterious, indescribable power– a vigilance, a readiness, the awareness that simply by my presence I can exert pressure on the movements of life around me, the belief that life can be molded to my advantage. Happiness and success are inside us. We have to reach deep and hold tight. And the moment something begins to subside, to relax, to grow weary, then everything around us is turned loose, resists us, rebels, moved beyond our influence. And then it’s just one thing after another, one setback after another, and you’re finished.
~Thomas Buddenbrooks, in Buddenbrooks
