Over one's mind and over one's body the individual is sovereign.

... what is really inspiriting and ennobling in the doctrine of freewill, is the conviction that we have real power over the formation of our own character; that our will, by influencing some of our circumstances, can modify our future habits or capabilities of willing.

The best state for human nature is that in which, while no one is poor, no one desires to be richer, nor has any reason to fear from thrust back, by the efforts of others to push themselves forward.

The most cogent reason for restricting the interference of government is the great evil of adding unnecessarily to its power.

The human faculties of perception, judgment, discriminative feeling, mental activity, and even moral preference, are exercised only in making a choice. He who does anything because it is the custom, makes no choice.

The worth of the state, in the long run, is the worth of the individuals composing it.

The idea is essentially repulsive, of a society held together only by the relations and feelings arising out of pecuniary interest.