Law in general is human reason, inasmuch as it governs all the inhabitants of the earth: the political and civil laws of each nation ought to be only the particular cases in which human reason is applied.

Slavery, properly so called, is the establishment of a right which gives to one man such a power over another as renders him absolute master of his life and fortune.

No kingdom has shed more blood than the kingdom of Christ.

There should be weeping at a man's birth, not at his death.

In a republic there is no coercive force as in other governments, the laws must therefore endeavor to supply this defect.

In the state of nature... all men are born equal, but they cannot continue in this equality. Society makes them lose it, and they recover it only by the protection of the law.

Countries are not cultivated in proportion to their fertility, but to their liberty.