No government ought to exist for the purpose of checking the prosperity of its people or to allow such a principle in its policy.

Law and arbitrary power are at eternal enmity.

It is for the most part in our skill in manners, and in the observations of time and place and of decency in general, that what is called taste by way of distinction consists; and which is in reality no other than a more refined judgment.

The greatest crimes do not arise from a want of feeling for others but from an over-sensibilit y for ourselves and an over-indulgence to our own desires

There is nothing in the world really beneficial that does not lie within the reach of an informed understanding and a well-protected pursuit.

Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites.

It is the nature of tyranny and rapacity never to learn moderation from the ill-success of first oppressions; on the contrary, all oppressors, all men thinking highly of the methods dictated by their nature, attribute the frustration of their desires to the want of sufficient rigor.