Let us leave every man at liberty to seek into him and to lose himself in his ideas.

Whoever serves his country well has no need of ancestors.

In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to another.

Anyone who seeks to destroy the passions instead of controlling them is trying to play the angel.

Originality is nothing but judicious plagiarism.

It is with books as with the fires of our grates, everybody borrows a light from his neighbor to kindle his own, which in turn is communicated to others, and each partakes of all.

It is the first law of friendship that it has to be cultivated. The second is to be indulgent when the first law is neglected.