"Happiness is a state of non-contradictory joy."

"Civilization is the progress toward a society of privacy. The savage's whole existence is public, ruled by the laws of his tribe."

"If a man is right, he has no reason to fear the judgment of others. If he is wrong, he has no reason to wish that judgment withheld."

"The small minority of men who are able to conceive of a new idea are the only men who discover truths. The rest are but the echoes of other men's thoughts."

"A desire presupposes the possibility of action to achieve it; action presupposes a motive from which to act."