Le secret des grandes fortunes sans cause apparente est un crime oublié, parce qu'il a été proprement fait. - Honoré de Balzac

Une déchirure est un malheur, une tache est un vice.

A country is strong which consists of wealthy families, every member of whom is interested in defending a common treasure; it is weak when composed of scattered individuals, to whom it matters little whether they obey seven or one, a Russian or a Corsican, so long as each keeps his own plot of land, blind in their wretched egotism, to the fact that the day is coming when this too will be torn from them.

La gloire est le soleil des morts.