Laws are partly formed for the sake of good men, in order to instruct them how they may live on friendly terms with one another, and partly for the sake of those who refuse to be instructed, whose spirit cannot be subdued, or softened, or hindered from plunging into evil.

In the state of nature...all men are born equal, but they cannot continue in this equality. Society makes them lose it, and they recover it only by the protection of the law.

We are obliged to respect, defend and maintain the common bonds of union and fellowship that exist among all members of the human race.

Let us have a care not to disclose our hearts to those who shut up theirs against us.

Pity is the virtue of the law, and none but tyrants use it cruelly.

Only one absolute certainty is possible to man, namely that at any given moment the feeling which he has exists.

The memory should be specially taxed in youth, since it is then that it is strongest and most tenacious. But in choosing the things that should be committed to memory the utmost care and forethought must be exercised; as lessons well learnt in youth are never forgotten.

Neither can embellishments of language be found without arrangement and expression of thoughts, nor can thoughts be made to shine without the light of language.

There is no greater mistake than the hasty conclusion that opinions are worthless because they are badly argued.

When men exercise their reason coolly and freely on a variety of distinct questions, they inevitably fall into different opinions on some of them. When they are governed by a common passion, their opinions, if they are to be called, will be the same.