The subject of a good tragedy must not be realistic.

In the service of Caesar, everything is legitimate.

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

Happiness seems made to be shared.

To vanquish without peril is to triumph without glory.

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

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

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

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

Every man of courage is a man of his word.

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

In recounting our woes, we often soothe them.

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

Danger breeds best on too much confidence.

He who does not fear death cares naught for threats.

He who fears not death fears not a threat.

Treachery is noble when aimed at tyranny.

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

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.

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

Each instant of life is a step toward death.

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

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

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

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.

The crime and not the scaffold makes the shame.

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

Those who easily forgive invite offenses.

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

He who can live in infamy is unworthy of life.

He who pardons easily invites offense.

Love is a tyrant sparing none.

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

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

Do your duty and leave the rest to heaven.

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

Brave men are brave from the very first.

Flee an enemy who knows your weakness.

My sweetest hope is to lose hope.

Ambition aspires to descend.

They who overcome their desires once can overcome them always.

We triumph without glory when we conquer without danger.

This dark brightness that falls from the stars.

Force is legitimate where gentleness avails not.

I would not like a king who could obey.

He who allows himself to be insulted deserves to be.

Desire increases when fulfillment is postponed.

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