As soon as any man says of the affairs of the State "What does it matter to me?" the State may be given up for lost.

The writings of women are always cold and pretty like themselves. There is as much wit as you may desire, but never any soul.

To try to conceal our own heart is a bad means to read that of others.

The problem is to find a form of association which will defend and protect with the whole common force the person and goods of each associate, and in which each, while uniting himself with all, may still obey himself alone, and remain as free as before.

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.

Taste is, so to speak, the microscope of the judgment.

The person who has lived the most is not the one with the most years but the one with the richest experiences.