Virtue can only flourish among equals.

Make them free, and they will quickly become wise and virtous, as men become more so; for the improvement must be mutual, or the injustice which one half of the human race are obliged to submit to, retorting on their oppressors, the virtue of men will be worm-eaten by the insect whom he keeps under his feet

The being cannot be termed rational or virtuous, who obeys any authority, but that of reason.

The same energy of character which renders a man a daring villain would have rendered him useful in society, had that society been well organized.

...men endeavor to sink us still lower, merely to render us alluring objects for a moment; and women, intoxicated by the adoration which men, under the influence of their senses, pay them, do not seek to obtain a durable interest in their hearts, or to become the friends of the fellow creatures who find amusement in their society.

Independence I have long considered as the grand blessing of life, the basis of every virtue; and independence I will ever secure by contracting my wants, though I were to live on a barren heath.

I begin to love this little creature, and to anticipate his birth as a fresh twist to a knot, which I do not wish to untie.