Every man who has power is impelled to abuse it.

Honor is unknown in despotic states.

I have read descriptions of Paradise that would make any sensible person stop wanting to go there.

...when the laws have ceased to be executed, as this can only come from the corruption of the republic, the state is already lost.

With truths of a certain kind, it is not enough to make them appear convincing: one must also make them felt. Of such kind are moral truths.

The life of man is but a succession of vain hopes and groundless fears.

The Christian religion is a stranger to mere despotic power. The mildness so frequently recommended in the Gospel is incompatible with the despotic rage.