The most certain test by which we judge whether a country is really free is the amount of security enjoyed by minorities.

There is not a soul who does not have to beg alms of another, either a smile, a handshake, or a fond eye.

I cannot accept your canon that we are to judge Pope and King unlike other men, with a favorable presumption that they do no wrong. If there is any presumption, it is the other way against holders of power...power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

A wise person does at once, what a fool does at last. Both do the same thing; only at different times.

In every age its (liberty's) progress has been beset by its natural enemies, by ignorance and superstition, by lust of conquest and by love of ease, by the strong man's craving for power, and the poor man's craving for food

Ink was not invented to express our real feelings.

Liberty is the prevention of control by others. This requires self-control and, therefore, religious and spiritual influences; education, knowledge, well-being.