History is nothing but a pack of tricks that we play upon the dead.

What is toleration? It is the prerogative of humanity. We are all steeped in weaknesses and errors: Let us forgive one another's follies, it is the first law of nature.

If the bookseller happens to desire a privilege for his merchandise, whether he is selling Rabelais or the Fathers of the Church, the magistrate grants the privilege without answering for the contents of the book. - Voltaire (Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire

Your destiny is that of a man, your vows those of a god.

Present opportunities are not to be neglected; they rarely visit us twice.

In this country we find it pays to shoot an admiral from time to time to encourage the others.

All men are by nature free; you have therefore an undoubted liberty to depart whenever you please, but will have many and great difficulties to encounter in passing the frontiers.