When Religion and Royalty are swept away, the people will attack the great, and after the great, they will fall upon the rich. – Honore de Balzac

What seems to be generosity is often no more than disguised ambition, which overlooks a small interest in order to secure a great one. – Francois de La Rochefoucauld

The little may contrast with the great, in painting, but cannot be said to be contrary to it. Oppositions of colors contrast but there are also colors contrary to each other, that is, which produce an ill effect because they shock the eye when brought very near it. – Voltaire