People in their natural state are basically good. But this natural innocence,however, is corrupted by the evils of society.

The body politic, as well as the human body, begins to die as soon as it is born, and carries itself the causes of its destruction.

It is not our criminal actions that require courage to confess, but those which are ridiculous and foolish.

Great men never make bad use of their superiority. They see it and feel it and are not less modest. The more they have, the more they know their own deficiencies.

I was not much afraid of punishment, I was only afraid of disgrace.But that I feared more than death, more than crime, more than anything in the world. I should have rejoiced if the earth had swallowed me up and stifled me in the abyss. But my invincible sense of shame prevailed over everything . It was my shame that made me impudent, and the more wickedly I behaved the bolder my fear of confession made me. I saw nothing but the horror of being found out, of being publicly proclaimed, to my face, as a thief, as a liar, and slanderer.

Force does not constitute right... obedience is due only to legitimate powers.

Every man has a right to risk his own life for the preservation of it.