The state is the association of men, and not men themselves; the citizen may perish, and the man remain.

I shall be obliged to wander to the right and to the left, that I may investigate and discover the truth.

Power ought to serve as a check to power.

Certain kinds of foolishness are such that a greater foolishness would be better.

The tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy is not so dangerous to the public welfare as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy.

The public business must be carried on with a certain motion, neither too quick nor too slow.

That anyone who possesses power has a tendency to abuse it is an eternal truth. They tend to go as far as the barriers will allow.