Persian Letters quotes

The houses are so high that you would swear they must be inhabited by astrologers.

If he has a costly war on hand, and is short of money, he simply suggests to his subjects that a piece of paper is coin of the realm, and they are straightway convinced of it.

Sometimes he makes the king believe that three are no more than one; that the bread which he eats is not bread; the wine which he drinks not wine.

if any one chanced to inform the company that I was a Persian I soon overheard a murmur all round me, "Oh! ah! A Persian, is he? Most amazing! However can anybody be a Persian?"

When I arrived, they stared at me as if I had dropped from the sky: old and young, men, women, and children, were all agog to see me.

Yes, I have deceived you; I have led away your eunuchs: I have made sport of your jealousy; and I have known how to turn your frightful seraglio into a place of pleasure and delight.

No: I have lived in slavery, and yet always retained my freedom: I have remodeled your laws upon those of nature; and my mind has always maintained its independence.

You were amazed never to find in me the transports of love: had you known me better you would have found all the violence of hate.