The Fortune Of Nations Has Often Depended

History, Which Undertakes To Record The Transactions Of The Past, For The Instruction Of Future Ages, Would Ill Deserve That Honourable Office If She Condescended To Plead The Cause Of Tyrants, Or To Justify The Maxims Of Persecution.

It Has Been Sagaciously Conjectured, That The Artful Legislator Indulged The Stubborn Prejudices Of His Countrymen.

The Inactivity Of A Conqueror Betrays The Loss Of Strength And Blood . . .

[but] The Man Who Dares Not Expose His Life In The Defence Of His Children And His Property, Has Lost In Society The First And Most Active Energies Of Nature.

I Will Not Dissemble The First Emotions Of Joy On The Recovery Of My Freedom, And, Perhaps, The Establishment Of My Fame. But My Pride Was Soon Humbled, And A Sober Melancholy Was Spread Over My Mind, By The Idea That I Had Taken An Everlasting Leave Of An Old And Agreeable Companion, And That Whatsoever Might Be The Future Date Of My History, The Life Of The Historian Must Be Short And Precarious.