The state of slavery is in its own nature bad.

Law in general is human reason, inasmuch as it governs all the inhabitants of the earth: the political and civil laws of each nation ought to be only the particular cases in which human reason is applied.

Countries are well cultivated, not as they are fertile, but as they are free.

The reason the Romans built their great paved highways was because they had such inconvenient footwear.

An author is a fool who, not content with boring those he lives with, insists on boring future generations.

Slavery, properly so called, is the establishment of a right which gives to one man such a power over another as renders him absolute master of his life and fortune.

Life was given to me as a favor, so I may abandon it when it is one no longer.

It is always the adventurers who do great things, not the sovereigns of great empires.

Author: A fool who, not content with having bored those who have lived with him, insists on tormenting generations to come.

Raillery is a mode of speaking in favor of one's wit at the expense of one's better nature.

A man should be mourned at his birth, not at his death.

Thus the creation, which seems an arbitrary act, supposes laws as invariable as those of the fatality of the Atheists. It would be absurd to say that the Creator might govern the world without those rules, since without them it could not subsist.

People here argue about religion interminably, but it appears that they are competing at the same time to see who can be the least devout.

Although born in a prosperous realm, we did not believe that its boundaries should limit our knowledge, and that the lore of the East should alone enlighten us.

In bodies moved, the motion is received, increased, diminished, or lost, according to the relations of the quantity of matter and velocity; each diversity is uniformity, each change is constancy.

The success of most things depends upon knowing how long it will take to succeed.

Success in the majority of circumstances depends on knowing how long it takes to succeed.

Not to be loved is a misfortune, but it is an insult to be loved no longer.

What orators lack in depth they make up for in length.

Man, as a physical being, is like other bodies governed by invariable laws.

Republics end through luxury; monarchies through poverty.

There are only two cases in which war is just: first, in order to resist the aggression of an enemy, and second, in order to help an ally who has been attacked.

There should be weeping at a man's birth, not at his death.

Each particular society begins to feel its strength, whence arises a state of war between different nations.

The severity of the laws prevents their execution.

I have read descriptions of Paradise that would make any sensible person stop wanting to go there.

Do you think that God will punish them for not practicing a religion which he did not reveal to them?

Happy the people whose annals are tiresome.

Laws undertake to punish only overt acts.

People are increasingly realising that what they eat is important. You can't put junk food in your body and be healthy. All sorts of problems can develop, like diabetes, heart disease, obesity, strokes. Gardening not only helps with exercise and mental health, but it can improve diet as well.

When you plant something, you invest in a beautiful future amidst a stressful, chaotic and, at times, downright appalling world.

There is a direct correlation between gardening and mental health, not just to maintain good mental health but to repair it as well - that's anything in the gamut from depression to serious brain damage, schizophrenia or autism.

Once you engage with the simple enough business of feeding yourself, of soil and water, weather, season and harvest, it becomes personal. It is about you, your family and friends. Food becomes an aspect of those relationships as well as your intimacy with your plot.

I use the period between Christmas and New Year to potter about, think and completely change my mindset. In that easy no-man's-land between Boxing Day and New Year, loins are girded and mettle readied. It is time, as we voyagers bid farewell to the old year, to fare forward.

Absorbing a healthy amount of dirt builds your immune system.

I think that the essence of a Christmas wreath - of all Christmas vegetative decoration - has to be green and, if possible, living. So the basis of a wreath is ideally holly, laurel, ivy, rosemary, larch, fir or whatever is to hand.

Organic is loaded with a sense of rightness, with a set of rules. I would much rather someone bought food that was local and sustainable but not organic than bought organic food that had to be shipped across the world.

Woods are rich with biodiversity and, above all, places of trees and light that spangles a thousand greens through the leaves.

That first snowdrop, the flowering of the rose you pruned, a lettuce you grew from seed, the robin singing just for you. These are smallthings but all positive, all healing in a way that medicine tries to mimic.

I always see gardening as escape, as peace really. If you are angry or troubled, nothing provides the same solace as nurturing the soil.

Happiness is a by-product rather than an end in itself. It pops into your life unbidden, and then tends to pop out again. I'm on record as being depressive. It is related to winter.

If I'm honest, the thing I am proudest of is my varieties of wild flowers in the hay meadow.

We are extremely uncomfortable with the spiritual aspects of gardening, and yet most people feel it in some form or other, even if it's a sense of connection to the greater world on a beautiful day.

For every gardener there is a minimum level of engagement that is needed to sustain and develop the relationship. There is no magic figure to this and it will vary from person to person and season to season, but it is there.

Gardening is easy. Stick it in the ground the right way up and most plants will grow perfectly well.

Daffodils, blossom and tulips jostle to the front of the stage in April. I love these early perennials: they may be more modest but they nearly all have that one special quality that a plant needs to transform your affections from admiration to affection - charm.

I was a sickly child, and it wasn't until I was 19 that I realised I was quite a robust, vigorous person. Since then I've taken ill health to be an irritating interruption into what is a fairly reliable stream of good health.

I'm a great believer in trying things, so I've eaten witchetty grubs, a mountain frog, ostrich and alligator. I like tongue, I like brains and tripe.

Sweet peas should smell. Half the point of growing sweet peas is to cut them for the house; they should fill a room with an almost painful olfactory inarticulateness. But most sweet peas smell of nothing. This does not stop them being beautiful, but they are like food with no flavour.

A plant I have grown for years without really taking much notice of is epimedium. You know how it is: someone gives you a plant, you stick it in the ground and somehow it never presses the trigger. There is no intimacy.