He dare not flee me; but they take him from me--he glides through my fingers.

What things could I not have done with his hereditary rights, had I possessed them?
But, employing such infinite calculation in merely keeping one's balance, what of genius remains for high enterprises?
I hold Europe in my hand, yet I myself am suspended by a trembling hair.

What is it to me that I can cast my eyes confidently over the map of Europe, when all my interests are concentrated in his narrow cabinet, and its few feet of space give me more trouble to govern than the whole country besides?
See, then, what it is to be a prime minister! Envy me, my guards, if you can." His features were so distorted as to give reason to fear some accident; and at the same moment he was seized with a long and violent fit of coughing, which ended in a slight hemorrhage.

He saw that Father Joseph, alarmed, was about to seize a gold bell that stood on the table, and, suddenly rising with all the vivacity of a young man, he stopped him, saying: "'Tis nothing, Joseph; I sometimes yield to these fits of depression; but they do not last long, and I leave them stronger than before.

As for my health, I know my condition perfectly; but that is not the business in hand.