The most absolute authority is that which penetrates into a man's innermost being and concerns itself no less with his will than with his actions.

I have suffered too much in this world not to hope for another.

Each member of the community gives himself to it at the instant of its constitution, just as he actually is, himself and all his forces, including all goods in his possession.

I would rather be a man of paradoxes than a man of prejudices.

In a well governed state, there are few punishments, not because there are many pardons, but because criminals are rare; it is when a state is in decay that the multitude of crimes is a gaurantee of impunity.

He thinks like a philosopher, but governs like a king.

Money is the seed of money.