Men are mistaken in thinking themselves free; their opinion is made up of consciousness of their own actions, and ignorance of the causes by which they are determined.

Only that thing is free which exists by the necessities of its own nature, and is determined in its actions by itself alone.

Only free men are thoroughly grateful one to another.

The greater emotion with which we conceive a loved object to be affected toward us, the greater will be our complacency.

If we conceive that anyone loves, desires, or hates anything which we ourselves love, desire, or hate, we shall thereupon regard the thing in question with more steadfast love, etc. On the contrary, if we think that anyone shrinks from something that we love, we shall undergo vacillation of the soul.

Except God no substance can be granted or conceived. .. Everything, I say, is in God, and all things which are made, are made by the laws of the infinite nature of God, and necessarily follows from the necessity of his essence.

self-preservation is the primary and only foundation of virtue.