Who is wiser: the man who plants flowers along life's way or the man who makes it bristle with thorns?

The extension of women's rights is the basic principle of all social progress.

One could judge the degree of civilization of a country by the social and political position of its women

Civilization is a social plague on the planet, and vices are just as necessary to it as is a virus to disease.

Once upon a time people talked about the infallibility of the pope; today it is that of the merchant which they wish to establish.

Any civilized administration, however organized, prefers its own good to that of the people.

...commerce, which is mistakenly classified among the productive forms of work, ought to be ranked first among the parasitical professions like those of monk, soldier, lawyer etc.