Sublime

As soon as one has a group of people living routinely off the labour of another, the argument ran, they will necessarily create an apparatus of rule, officially to protect their property rights, in reality to preserve their advantage

Les hommes nés sous le joug, puis nourris et élevés dans la servitude, sans regarder plus avant, se contentent de vivre comme ils sont nés et ne pensent point avoir d'autres biens ni d'autres droits que ceux qu'ils ont trouvés ; ils prennent pour leur état de nature l'état de leur naissance.

Governments show thus how successfully men can be imposed on, even impose on themselves, for their own advantage. It is excellent, we must all allow. Yet this government never of itself furthered any enterprise, but by the alacrity with which it got out of its way.

Or ce tyran seul, il n'est pas besoin de le combattre, ni de l'abattre. Il est défait de lui-même, pourvu que le pays ne consente point à sa servitude. Il ne s'agit pas de lui ôter quelque chose, mais de ne rien lui donner.

il rédige son testament le 14 août. Il meurt le 18 août, en présence de Montaigne à qui il lègue ses œuvres et sa bibliothèque.

If the human mind be left to follow its own bent, it will regulate the temporal and spiritual institutions of society upon one uniform principle; and man will endeavor, if I may use the expression, to harmonize the state in which he lives upon earth with the state which he believes to await him in heaven.

Le grand Turc s'est bien aperçu que les livres et la pensée donnent plus que toute autre chose aux hommes le sentiment de leur dignité et la haine de la tyrannie.

For my part, I am persuaded that in all governments, whatever their nature may be, servility will cower to force, and adulation will cling to power.

If there were one who lived wholly without the use of money, the State itself would hesitate to demand it of him. But the rich man—not to make any invidious comparison—is always sold to the institution which makes him rich. Absolutely speaking, the more money, the less virtue; for money comes between a man and his objects, and obtains them for him;