In constitutional states, liberty is compensation for heavy taxes; in dictatorships, the subsititue is light taxes.

[The Pope] will make the king believe that three are only one, that the bread he eats is not bread... and a thousand other things of the same kind.

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

I have always observed that to succeed in the world one should seem a fool, but be wise.

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

The deterioration of every government begins with the decay of the principles on which it was founded.

A prince who loves and fears religion is a lion who stoops to the hand that strokes or to the voice that appeases him. He who fears and hates religion is like the savage beast that growls and bites the chain, which prevents his flying on the passenger. He who has no religion at all is that terrible animal who perceives his liberty only when he tears in pieces, and when he devours.