If magistrates had true justice, and if physicians had the true art of healing, they would have no occasion for square caps; the majesty of these sciences would itself be venerable enough.

It is not shameful for a man to succumb to pain and it is shameful to succumb to pleasure.

The art of subversion, of revolution, is to dislodge established customs by probing down to their origins in order to show how they lack authority and justice.

He who cannot believe is cursed, for he reveals by his unbelief that God has not chosen to give him grace.

Curiosity is only vanity. We usually only want to know something so that we can talk about it.

The Fall is an offense to human reason, but once accepted, it makes perfect sense of the human condition.

It is dangerous to tell the people that the laws are unjust; for they obey them only because they think them just. Therefore it isnecessary to tell them at the same time that they must obey them because they are laws, just as they must obey superiors, not because they are just, but because they are superiors. In this way all sedition is prevented.