I have never thought, for my part, that man's freedom consists in his being able to do whatever he wills, but that he should not, by any human power, be forced to do what is against his will.
I loved too sincerely, too completely, I venture to say, to be able to be happy easily.
Do to others as you would have others do to you, inspires all men with that other maxim of natural goodness a great deal less perfect, but perhaps more useful: Do good to yourself with as little prejudice as you can to others.
Since men cannot create new forces, but merely combine and control those which already exist, the only way in which they can preserve themselves is by uniting their separate powers in a combination strong enough to overcome any resistance, uniting them so that their powers are directed by a single motive and act in concert.
It is hard to prevent oneself from believing what one so keenly desires, and who can doubt that the interest we have in admitting or denying the reality of the Judgement to come determines the faith of most men in accordance with their hopes and fears.
Base souls have no faith in great individuals.
Take from the philosopher the pleasure of being heard and his desire for knowledge ceases.
If there were a people consisting of gods, they would be governed democratically. So perfect a government is not suitable to men.
But I am mistaken in speaking of a Christian republic; the terms are mutually exclusive. Christianity preaches only servitude and dependence. Its spirit is so favorable to tyranny that it always profits by such a regime. True Christians are made to be slaves, and they know it and do not much mind; this short life counts for too little in their eyes.
In truth, laws are always useful to those with possessions and harmful to those who have nothing; from which it follows that the social state is advantageous to men only when all possess something and none has too much.
As soon as any man says of the affairs of the State "What does it matter to me?" the State may be given up for lost.
Usurpers always bring about or select troublous times to get passed, under cover of the public terror, destructive laws, which the people would never adopt in cold blood. The moment chosen is one of the surest means of distinguishing the work of the legislator from that of the tyrant.
It is not possible for minds degraded by a host of trivial concerns to ever rise to anything great.
An intelligent being, is the active principle of all things. One must have renounced all common sense to doubt it, and it is a waste of time to try to prove such self evident truth.
You are worried about seeing him spend his early years in doing nothing. What! Is it nothing to be happy? Nothing to skip, play and run around all day long? Never in his life will he be so busy again.
To live is not breathing it is action.
Every man has the right to risk his own life in order to preserve it. Has it ever been said that a man who throws himself out the window to escape from a fire is guilty of suicide?
I have resolved on an enterprise that has no precedent and will have no imitator. I want to set before my fellow human beings a man in every way true to nature; and that man will be myself.
Force does not constitute right... obedience is due only to legitimate powers.
The man is best served who has no occasion to put the hands of others at the end of his own arms.
There are times when I am so unlike myself that I might be taken for someone else of an entirely opposite character.
The strongest is never strong enough to be always the master, unless he transforms strength into right, and obedience into duty.
Generally we obtain very surely and very speedily what we are not too anxious to obtain.
It is well known that a loose and easy dress contributes much to give to both sexes those fine proportions of body that are observable in the Grecian statues, and which serve as models to our present artists.
The majesty of the Scriptures strikes me with admiration, as the purity of the gospel has its influence on my heart.
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