Marquis De Custine

Nations have always good reasons for being what they are, and the best of all is that they cannot be otherwise.

What annoyances are more painful than those of which we cannot complain?

The love of their country is with them only a mode of flattering its master; as soon as they think that master can no longer hear, they speak of everything with a frankness which is the more startling because those who listen to it become responsible.

The circumstances of human society are too complicated to be submitted to the rigor of mathematical calculation.