"It [hereditary succession] appears under all the various characters of childhood, decrepitude, dotage, a thing at nurse, in leading-strings, or in crutches. It reverses the wholesome order of nature. …"

"Small islands, not capable of protecting themselves, are the proper objects for kingdoms to take under their care; but there is something absurd, in supposing a continent to be perpetually governed by…"

"A man's religion is not to be inquired into, not even by the state itself."

"It is not in numbers, but in unity, that our great strength lies."

"Kings succeed each other, not as rationals, but as animals. It signifies not what their mental or moral characters are."