There is an imaginary circle drawn around every human being, over which no government should be able to step.

The world would be astonished if it knew how great a proportion of its brightest ornaments, of those distinguished even in popular estimation for wisdom and virtue, are complete sceptics in religion.

The most important thing women have to do is to stir up the zeal of women themselves.

Popular opinions, on subjects not palpable to sense, are often true, but seldom or never the whole truth.

There is a limit to the legitimate interference of collective opinion with individual independence: and to find that limit, and maintain it against encroachment, is as indispensable to a good condition of human affairs, as protection against political despotism.

Despotism is a legitimate mode of government in dealing with barbarians, provided the end be their improvement.

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