“If there were a nation of Gods, it would govern itself democratically. A government so perfect is not suited to men.”

Everything is good as it comes from the hands of the Maker of the world, but degenerates once it gets into the hands of man

Being wealthy isn’t just a question of having lots of money. It’s a question of what we want. Wealth isn’t an absolute, it’s relative to desire. Every time we seek something that we can’t afford, we can be counted as poor, how much money we may actually have.

To write a good love letter, you ought to begin without knowing what you mean to say, and to finish without knowing what you have written.

Nature never deceives us; it is always we who deceive ourselves.

Everything is good as it comes from the hands of the Maker of the world, but degenerates once it gets into the hands of man

Happiness requires three things, a good bank account, a good cook, and good digestion.

The real world has its limits; the imaginary world is infinite. Unable to enlarge the one, let us restrict the other, for it is from the difference between the two alone that are born all the pains which make us truly unhappy.

MAN is born free; and everywhere he is in chains. One thinks himself the master of others, and still remains a greater slave than they.

MAN is born free; and everywhere he is in chains. One thinks himself the master of others, and still remains a greater slave than they.

The man who meditates is a depraved animal.

Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains. Those who think themselves the masters of others are indeed greater slaves than they.

In truth, laws are always useful to those with possessions and harmful to those who have nothing; from which it follows that the social state is advantageous to men only when all possess something and none has too much.

Every person has a right to risk their own life for the preservation of it.

There is peace in dungeons, but is that enough to make dungeons desirable?

I perceive God everywhere in His works. I sense Him in me; I see Him all around me.

Man’s first law is to watch over his own preservation; his first care he owes to himself; and as soon as he reaches the age of reason, he becomes the only judge of the best means to preserve himself; he becomes his own master.

The health of a democratic society may be measured by the quality of functions performed by private citizens.

In the future, there will be fewer but better Russians.

The best weapon of a dictatorship is secrecy, but the best weapon of a democracy should be the weapon of openness.

Without revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary movement.

There are many men of principle in both parties in America, but there is no party of principle.

There’s really no point to voting. If it made any difference, it would probably be illegal.

Democracy for an insignificant minority, democracy for the rich — that is the democracy of capitalist society.

We Social-Democrats always stand for democracy, not “in the name of capitalism,” but in the name of clearing the path for our movement, which clearing is impossible without the development of capitalism.