Study has been for me the sovereign remedy against all the disappointments of life. I have never known any trouble that an hour's reading would not dissipate.

If I knew of something that could serve my nation but would ruin another, I would not propose it to my prince, for I am first a man and only then a Frenchman... because I am necessarily a man, and only accidentally am I French.

I acknowledge that history is full of religious wars: but we must distinguish; it is not the multiplicity of religions which has produced these wars; it was the intolerating spirit which animated that one which thought she had the power of governing.

The laws do not take upon them to punish any other than overt acts.

The crime against nature will never make any great progress in society unless people are prompted to it by some particular custom.

If you would be holy, instruct your children, because all the good acts they perform will be imputed to you.

The reason the Romans built their great paved highways was because they had such inconvenient footwear.