No true believer could be intolerant or a persecutor. If I were a magistrate and the law carried the death penalty against atheists, I would begin by sending to the stake whoever denounced another.

I bold it impossible, that the great monarchies of Europe can subsist much longer; they all affect magnificence and splendor.

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

Why should we build our happiness on the opinons of others, when we can find it in our own hearts?

If there were a people consisting of gods, they would be governed democratically. So perfect a government is not suitable to men.

Usurpers always bring about or select troublous times to get passed, under cover of the public terror, destructive laws, which the people would never adopt in cold blood. The moment chosen is one of the surest means of distinguishing the work of the legislator from that of the tyrant.

Our affections as well as our bodies are in perpetual flux.