The most durable monument of human labor is that which recalls the wretchedness and nothingness of man.

The Americans combine the notions of religion and liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive of one without the other.

The man who asks of freedom anything other than itself is born to be a slave.

The more government takes the place of associations, the more will individuals lose the idea of forming associations and need the government to come to their help. That is a vicious circle of cause and effect.

The evil which one suffers patiently as inevitable seems insupportable as soon as he conceives the idea of escaping from it.

The best laws cannot make a constitution work in spite of morals; morals can turn the worst laws to advantage. That is a commonplace truth, but one to which my studies are always bringing me back. It is the central point in my conception. I see it at the end of all my reflections.

Nations, as well as man, almost always betray the most prominent features of their future destiny in their earliest years.