Life was given to me as a favor, so I may abandon it when it is one no longer.
From Charles de Secondat
There is only one thing that can form a bond between men, and that is gratitude... we cannot give someone else greater power over us than we have ourselves.
I have read descriptions of Paradise that would make any sensible person stop wanting to go there.
Republics end through luxury; monarchies through poverty.
The deterioration of a government begins almost always by the decay of its principles.
Society is the union of men and not the men themselves.
Liberty is the right of doing whatever the laws permit.
But constant experience shows us that every man invested with power is apt to abuse it, and to carry his authority as far as it will go.
Slavery, properly so called, is the establishment of a right which gives to one man such a power over another as renders him absolute master of his life and fortune.
The state of slavery is in its own nature bad.
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