It’s good to remember that in crises, natural crises, human beings forget for a while their ignorances, their biases, their prejudices. For a little while, neighbors help neighbors and strangers help strangers.

The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.

The less intelligent the white man is, the more stupid he thinks the black.

Do not do unto others as you would that they should do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same.

All men naturally hate each other. We have used concupiscence as best we can to make it serve the common good, but this is mere sham and a false image of charity, for essentially it is just hate.

The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much.

By nature, men are nearly alike; by practice, they get to be wide apart.

Such then is the human state, that to wish greatness for one’s country is to wish harm to one’s neighbors.

Patriotism is an ephemeral motive that scarcely ever outlasts the particular threat to society that aroused it.

The noblest kind of retribution is not to become like your enemy.

In settling an island, the first building erected by a Spaniard will be a church, by a Frenchman a fort, by a Dutchman a warehouse, and by an Englishman an alehouse.

Other nations use “force”; we Britons alone use “might.”

Nothing is more narrow-minded than chauvinism or racial hatred. To me all men are equal; there are flatheads everywhere and I despise them all equally.