Power ought to serve as a check to power.

When the body of the people is possessed of the supreme power, it is called a democracy.

Law in general is human reason, inasmuch as it governs all the inhabitants of the earth: the political and civil laws of each nation ought to be only the particular cases in which human reason is applied.

If I knew of something that could serve my nation but would ruin another, I would not propose it to my prince, for I am first a man and only then a Frenchman... because I am necessarily a man, and only accidentally am I French.

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.

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.