What can we expect from nations still less advanced in civilization than the Greeks? - Jean-Baptiste Say

No human being has the faculty of originally creating matter, which is more than nature itself can do. But any one may avail himself of the agents offered him by nature, to invest matter with utility.

There is no security of property, where a despotic authority can possess itself of the property of the subject against his consent. Neither is there such security, where the consent is merely nominal and delusive.

What is the motive which operates in every man's breast to counteract the impulse towards the gratification of his wants and appetites?