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

Talent is a gift which God has given us secretly, and which we reveal without perceiving it.

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

The false notion of miracles comes of our vanity, which makes us believe we are important enough for the Supreme Being to upset nature on our behalf.

When the body of the people is possessed of the supreme power, it is called a democracy.

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.

Liberty is the right of doing whatever the laws permit.