The prudent man does himself good; the virtuous one does it to other men.

Those who can be made to believe absurdities can be made to commit atrocities.

A multitude of laws in a country is like a great number of physicians, a sign of weakness and malady.

Despite the enormous quantity of books, how few people read! And if one reads profitably, one would realize how much stupid stuff the vulgar herd is content to swallow every day.

It is an infantile superstition of the human spirit that virginity would be thought a virtue and not the barrier that separates ignorance from knowledge.

Indeed, history is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes.

What would constitute useful history? That which should teach us our duties and our rights, without appearing to teach them.