From fanaticism to barbarism is only one step.
(after Shaftesbury, 1699); http://www.bartleby.com/66/14/16614.html
Disturbances in society are never more fearful than when those who are stirring up the trouble can use the pretext of religion to mask their true designs.
The arbitrary rule of a just and enlightened prince is always bad. His virtues are the most dangerous and the surest form of seduction: they lull a people imperceptibly into the habit of loving, respecting, and serving his successor, whoever that successor may be, no matter how wicked or stupid.
There is no moral precept that does not have something inconvenient about it.
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