Virtue is a state of war, and to live in it we have always to combat with ourselves.

Government originated in the attempt to find a form of association that defends and protects the person and property of each with the common force of all.

Luxury either comes of riches or makes them necessary; it corrupts at once rich and poor, the rich by possession and the poor by covetousness.

Money is the seed of money, and the first guinea is sometimes more difficult to acquire than the second million.

Smell is the sense of memory and desire.

The bigger a state becomes the more liberty diminishes.

To renounce liberty is to renounce being a man, to surrender the rights of humanity and even its duties.