Adultery is an evil only inasmuch as it is a theft; but we do not steal that which is given to us.

The rude beginnings of every art acquire a greater celebrity than the art in perfection; he who first played the fiddle was looked upon as a demigod.

It must be confessed that the inventors of the mechanical arts have been much more useful to men than the inventors of syllogisms.

The worthy administrators of justice are like a cat set to take care of a cheese, lest it should be gnawed by the mice. One bite of the cat does more damage to the cheese than twenty mice can do.

Men, generally going with the stream, seldom judge for themselves, and purity of taste is almost as rare as talent.

It is better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an innocent one.

It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished who kill not in large companies, and to the sound of trumpets.

Let all the laws be clear, uniform, and precise; to interpret laws is almost always to corrupt them.

The opinion of all lawyers, the unanimous cry of the nation, and the good of the state, are in themselves a law.

Those who are absent, by its means become present; it [mail] is the consolation of life.