The first person who, having enclosed a plot of land, took it into his head to say this is mine and found people simple enough to believe him was the true founder of civil society. What crimes, wars, murders, what miseries and horrors would the human race have been spared, had some one pulled up the stakes or filled in the ditch and cried out to his fellow men: "Do not listen to this imposter. You are lost if you forget that the fruits of the earth belong to all and the earth to no one!

It has always pleased me to read while eating if I have no companion; it gives me the society I lack. I devour alternately a page and a mouthful; it is as though my book were dining with me.

With children use force; with men reason; such is the natural order of things. The wise man requires no law.

We are born, so to speak, twice over; born into existence, and born into life; born a human being, and born a man.

People in their natural state are basically good. But this natural innocence,however, is corrupted by the evils of society.

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.

For, as I think I have said, I can only meditate when I am walking. When I stop I cease to think; my mind only works with my legs.