"The law, in its most general signification, 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 …"

"To prevent the executive power from being able to oppress, it is requisite that the armies with which it is entrusted should consist of the people, and have the same spirit as the people."

"Trade is a cure for the most destructive prejudices; for it is almost a general rule, that wherever we find agreeable manners, there commerce flourishes; and wherever there is commerce, there we meet …"

"The less a nation has of true riches, the more it has of money."

"It is not the business of government to make us virtuous, but to make us secure."