The more equality there is established among men, the more virtue and happiness will reign in society.

It is the preservation of the species, not of individuals, which appears to be the design of Deity throughout the whole of nature.

Men neglect the duties incumbent on man, yet are treated like demi-gods; religion is also separated from morality by a ceremonial veil, yet men wonder that the world is almost, literally speaking, a den of sharpers or oppressors.

In every age there has been a stream of popular opinion that has carried all before it, and given a family character, as it were, to the century.

... wealth and female softness equally tend to debase mankind!

Men with common minds seldom break through general rules. Prudence is ever the resort of weakness; and they rarely go as far as as they may in any undertaking, who are determined not to go beyond it on any account.

Executions, far from being useful examples to the survivors, have, I am persuaded, a quite contrary effect, by hardening the heart they ought to terrify. Besides, the fear of an ignominious death, I believe, never deterred anyone from the commission of a crime, because in committing it the mind is roused to activity about present circumstances.