Edmund Burke: “No compensation, no consideration, was given or stipulated for them.”

Not being illuminated with the light of which the gentlemen of France tell us they have got so abundant a share, they acted under a strong impression of the ignorance and fallibility of mankind.

Let us imitate their caution, if we wish to deserve their fortune or to retain their bequests.

The improvements of the National Assembly are superficial, their errors fundamental.

They come from one who has been no tool of power, no flatterer of greatness, and who in his last acts does not wish to belie the tenor of his life.