If all were perfect Christians, individuals would do their duty; the people would be obedient to the laws, the magistrates incorrupt, and there would be neither vanity nor luxury in such a state.

Whoever blushes confesses guilt, true innocence never feels shame.

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

A citizen should render to the state all the services he can as soon as the sovereign demands them.

The happiest is he who suffers least; the most miserable is he who enjoys least.

No man has any natural authority over his fellow men.

Leave those vain moralists, my friend, and return to the depth of your soul: that is where you will always rediscover the source of the sacred fire which so often inflamed us with love of the sublime virtues; that is where you will see the eternal image of true beauty, the contemplation of which inspires us with a holy enthusiasm.