"He who lets the world, or his own portion of it, choose his plan of life for him, has no need of any other faculty than the ape-like one of imitation."

"A person should be free to do as he likes in his own concerns; but he ought not to be free to do as he likes in acting for other people, under the pretext that the affairs of other people are his own …"

"The government of a people by itself has a meaning and a reality, but only when the 'itself' is composed of all the people, and the 'government' is the government of all by all."

"Absoluteness of power is the most seductive of all illusions."

"The only way to get a good government is for the people to choose it wisely."