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.

There are times when I am so unlike myself that I might be taken for someone else of an entirely opposite character.

Do to others as you would have others do to you, inspires all men with that other maxim of natural goodness a great deal less perfect, but perhaps more useful: Do good to yourself with as little prejudice as you can to others.

Behold the works of our philosophers; with all their pompous diction, how mean and contemptible they are by comparison with the Scriptures! Is it possible that a book at once so simple and sublime should be merely the work of man?

Teach by doing whenever you can, and only fall back upon words when doing it is out of the question.

All kinds of frankness and honesty are terrible crimes in the eyes of society.

I have never thought, for my part, that man's freedom consists in his being able to do whatever he wills, but that he should not, by any human power, be forced to do what is against his will.