"In a true state of nature, all men are born equal, but they cannot remain so. Society makes them lose their equality, and they can recover it only by the laws."

"When the legislative power is more corrupt than the executive, the danger is that laws will be made that are too arbitrary."

"The women of Europe have lost all their influence; they have none in the state, none in the church, none in the family."

"In a true democracy, the people are sovereign, and the magistrates are only its ministers."

"The English are the people in the world who have best known how to take advantage of each of these three great things: religion, commerce, and liberty."