How can the bird that is born for joy Sit in a cage and sing? How can a child, when fears annoy, But droop his tender wing, And forget his youthful spring?

The man who never alters his opinions is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind.

What is grand is necessarily obscure to weak men. That which can be made explicit to the idiot is not worth my care.

Enlightenment means taking full responsibility for your life.

I am really sorry to see my countrymen trouble themselves about politics. If men were wise, the most arbitrary princes could not hurt them. If they are not wise, the freest government is compelled to be a tyranny. Princes appear to me to be fools. Houses of Commons and Houses of Lords appear to me to be fools; they seem to me to be something else besides human life.

Each man must create his own system or else he is a slave to another mans

You've always had the power right there in your shoes, you just had to learn it for yourself.