"The man of the century demands laws and institutions of convalescence, which restrain him without breaking him, which guide him without crushing him."

"Our laws are like cobwebs... Little gnats and butterflies get caught in them..., big horseflies break them... and get through them."

"Should the citizen for a single moment, to any extent, abandon his conscience to the legislator? Why, then, should everyone have a conscience? I think we have to be men first, then subjects. Respect for the law comes after respect for the law. The only obligation I have the right to adopt is to act at all times according to what seems right to me."