When we know to read our own hearts, we acquire wisdom of the heartsof others.

The bad gives rise to the good, the good inspires the better, the better produces the excellent, the excellent is followed by the bizarre

One may demand of me that I should seek truth, but not that I should find it

The good of the people must be the great purpose of government. By the laws of nature and of reason, the governors are invested with power to that end. And the greatest good of the people is liberty. It is to the state what health is to the individual.

Anyone who takes it upon himself, on his private authority, to break a bad law, thereby authorizes everyone else to break the good ones.

This root [the potato], no matter how much you prepare it, is tasteless and floury. It cannot pass for an agreeable food, but it supplies a food sufficiently abundant and sufficiently healthy for men who ask only to sustain themselves. The potato is criticized with reason for being windy, but what matters windiness for the vigorous organisms of peasants and laborers?

The most dangerous madmen are those created by religion, and people whose aim is to disrupt society always know how to make good use of them on occasion.