A fondness for reading changes the inevitable dull hours of our life into exquisite hours of delight.

Laws, in their most general signification, are the necessary relations arising from the nature of things. In this sense all beings have their laws: the Deity His laws, the material world its laws, the intelligences superior to man their laws, the beasts their laws, man his laws.

As men are affected in all ages by the same passions, the occasions which bring about great changes are different, but the causes are always the same.

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

There is no one, says another, whom fortune does not visit once in his life; but when she does not find him ready to receive her, she walks in at the door, and flies out at the window.

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.

Virtue in a republic is the love of one's country, that is the love of equality.