What a hell of an economic system! Some are replete with everything while others, whose stomachs are no less demanding, whose hunger is just as recur… - Denis Diderot

أنا ألهو بأن أكتب الحماقات التي ترتكبونها تحت أسماء مستعارة. فحماقاتكم تضحكني وكتاباتي تعكر مزاجكم

The arbitrary rule of a just and enlightened prince is always bad. His virtues are the most dangerous and the surest form of seduction: they lull a people imperceptibly into the habit of loving, respecting, and serving his successor, whoever that successor may be, no matter how wicked or stupid.

As long as the centuries continue to unfold, the number of books will grow continually, and one can predict that a time will come when it will be almost as difficult to learn anything from books as from the direct study of the whole universe. It will be almost as convenient to search for some bit of truth concealed in nature as it will be to find it hidden away in an immense multitude of bound volumes.