“When one wants to change manners and customs, one should not do so by changing the laws.”

It is unreasonable … to oblige a man not to attempt the defense of his own life.

A man who writes well writes not as others write, but as he himself writes; it is often in speaking badly that he speaks well.

I have ever held it as a maxim never to do that through another which it was impossible for me to execute myself.

Love of the republic in a democracy, is a love of the democracy; love of the democracy is that of equality. Love of the democracy is likewise that of frugality.

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.

Happy the people whose annals are tiresome.

If we only wanted to be happy, it would be easy; but we want to be happier than other people, and that is almost always difficult, since we think them happier than they are.

Very good laws may be ill timed.

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.

When the savages of Louisiana wish to have fruit, they cut the tree at the bottom and gather the fruit. That is exactly a despotic government.

The spirit of moderation should also be the spirit of the lawgiver.

We must have constantly present in our minds the difference between independence and liberty. Liberty is a right of doing whatever the laws permit, and if a citizen could do what they forbid he would no longer be possessed of liberty.

Laws undertake to punish only overt acts.

Although born in a prosperous realm, we did not believe that its boundaries should limit our knowledge, and that the lore of the East should alone enlighten us.

The English are busy folk; they have no time in which to be polite.

The prejudices of superstition are superior to all others, and have the strongest influence on the human mind.

Behavior is the theory of manners practically applied.

Contraries are cured by contraries.

Politics has rough manners, but it is a very useful thing.

Some people are so methodical that that is all they are or ever will be.

I’ve never turned blue in someone else’s bathroom. I consider that the height of bad manners.

I describe not men, but manners; not an individual, but a species.