Freedom is self-determination.

Desire is the very essence of man

I have tried sedulously not to laugh at the acts of man, nor to lament them, nor to detest them, but to understand them.

He who lives according to the guidance of reason strives as much as possible to repay the hatred, anger, or contempt of others towards himself with love or generosity. ...hatred is increased by reciprocal hatred, and, on the other hand, can be extinguished by love, so that hatred passes into love.

Will and intellect are one and the same thing.

Whatsoever is contrary to nature is contrary to reason, and whatsoever is contrary to reason is absurd.

In the state of nature, wrong-doing is impossible; or, if anyone does wrong, it is to himself, not to another. For no one by the law of nature is bound to please another, unless he chooses, nor to hold anything to be good or evil, but what he himself, according to his own temperament, pronounces to be so; and, to speak generally, nothing is forbidden by the law of nature, except what is beyond everyone's power.