“‘Hoc erat in votis, modus agri non ita magnus.’ 
          Horace, lib. ii., sat. vi.

“I remember that my property was the origin of our inquiries.  You argued very forcibly that I could not keep both my wealth and my liberty; but when you wished me to be free and at the same time without needs, you desired two incompatible things, for I could only be independent of men by returning to dependence on nature.  What then shall I do with the fortune bequeathed to me by my parents?  To begin with, I will not be dependent on it; I will cut myself loose from all the ties which bind me to it; if it is left in my hands, I shall keep it; if I am deprived of it, I shall not be dragged away with it.  I shall not trouble myself to keep it, but I shall keep steadfastly to my own place.  Rich or poor, I shall be free.  I shall be free not merely in this country or in that; I shall be free in any part of the world.  All the chains of prejudice are broken; as far as I am concerned I know only the bonds of necessity.  I have been trained to endure them from my childhood, and I shall endure them until death, for I am a man; and why should I not wear those chains as a free man, for I should have to wear them even if I were a slave, together with the additional fetters of slavery?

“What matters my place in the world?  What matters it where I am?  Wherever there are men, I am among my brethren; wherever there are none, I am in my own home.  So long as I may be independent and rich, and have wherewithal to live, and I shall live.  If my wealth makes a slave of me, I shall find it easy to renounce it.  I have hands to work, and I shall get a living.  If my hands fail me, I shall live if others will support me; if they forsake me I shall die; I shall die even if I am not forsaken, for death is not the penalty of poverty, it is a law of nature.  Whensoever death comes I defy it; it shall never find me making preparations for life; it shall never prevent me having lived.

“My father, this is my decision.  But for my passions, I should be in my manhood independent as God himself, for I only desire what is and I should never fight against fate.  At least, there is only one chain, a chain which I shall ever wear, a chain of which I may be justly proud.  Come then, give me my Sophy, and I am free.”

“Dear Emile, I am glad indeed to hear you speak like a man, and to behold the feelings of your heart.  At your age this exaggerated unselfishness is not unpleasing.  It will decrease when you have children of your own, and then you will be just what a good father and a wise man ought to be.  I knew what the result would be before our travels; I knew that when you saw our institutions you would be far from reposing a confidence in them which they do not deserve.  In vain do we seek freedom under the power of the laws.  The laws!  Where is there any law?  Where is there any respect for law?  Under the name of law you have everywhere seen the rule of self-interest