“As usurpation is the exercise of power, which another hath a right to; so tyranny is the exercise of power beyond right, which no body can have a right to. And this is making use of the power any one has in his hands, not for the good of those who are under it, but for his own private separate advantage. When the governor, however intitled, makes not the law, but his will, the rule; and his commands and actions are not directed to the preservation of the properties of his people, but the satisfaction of his own ambition, revenge, covetousness, or any other irregular passion.”

“The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom. For in all the states of created beings capable of law, where there is no law, there is no freedom.”

“Things of this world are in so constant a flux, that nothing remains long in the same state.”

“The reason why men enter into society is the preservation of their property.”

“Government has no other end, but the preservation of property.”

“All mankind... being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions.”

“It is of great use to the sailor to know the length of his line, though he cannot with it fathom all the depths of the ocean.”

“We should have a great fewer disputes in the world if words were taken for what they are, the signs of our ideas only, and not for things themselves.”

“It is one thing to show a man that he is in an error, and another to put him in possession of the truth.”

“Our incomes are like our shoes; if too small, they gall and pinch us; but if too large, they cause us to stumble and to trip.”

“The only fence against the world is a thorough knowledge of it.”