Sin cannot be conceived in a natural state, but only in a civil state, where it is decreed by common consent what is good or bad.

No to laugh, not to lament, not to detest, but to understand.

None are more taken in by flattery than the proud, who wish to be the first and are not.

The highest endeavor of the mind, and the highest virtue, it to understand things by intuition.

The virtue of a free man appears equally great in refusing to face difficulties as in overcoming them.

Be not astonished at new ideas; for it is well known to you that a thing does not therefore cease to be true because it is not accepted by many.

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