Why should the law refuse its protection to any sensitive being? The time will come when humanity will extend its mantle over everything which breathes.

The turn of a sentence has decided the fate of many a friendship, and, for aught that we know, the fate of many a kingdom.

What is it that should trace the insuperable line? ...The question is not, Can they reason? nor Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?

As to the evil which results from censorship, it is impossible to measure it, because it is impossible to tell where it ends.

It is vain to talk of the interest of the community, without understanding what is the interest of the individual

Kind words cost no more than unkind ones . . . and we may scatter the seeds of courtesy and kindliness around us at so little expense. If you would fall into any extreme let it be on the side of gentleness. The human mind is so constructed that it resists vigor and yields to softness.

Priestly was the first (unless it was Becarria) who taught my lips to pronounce this sacred truth--that the greatest happiness of the greatest number is the foundation of morals and legislation.