Good things people've said:

Denis Diderot (1713-1784) was the coordinator and part-author of the first real encyclopedia. Here is a beautiful line I found in his section on The Slave Trade: "Men and their liberty are not objects of commerce; they can be neither sold nor bought nor paid for at any price."
In his section on Fanaticim: "Fanaticism has done much more harm to the world than impiety. What do impious people claim? To free themselves of a yoke, while fanatics want to extend their chains over all the earth. Infernal zealomania!" Ha ha!

Also very cool is Caesare Beccaria (1738-1794), who wrote about torture in On Crimes and Punishments: "No man can be called guilty before a judge has sentenced him, nor can society deprive him of public protection before it has been decided that he has in fact violated the conditions under which such protection was accorded him. What right is it, then, if not simply that of might, which empowers a judge to inflict punishment on a citizen while doubt still remains as to his guilt or innocence? Here is the dilemma, which is nothing new: the fact of the crime is either certain or uncertain; if certain, all that is due is the punishment established by the laws, and tortures are useless because the criminal's confession is useless; if uncertain, then one must not torture the innocent, for such, according to the laws, is a man whose crimes are not yet proved . . ." Someone ought to put this on a billboard--feels very relevant, to me at least.

Speaking of Might is Right, The Once and Future King by TH White should be required reading. Take a week in the summer----agh, such good writing! I would post some Pat Conroy to show you bad writing, but I think it might make me vomit if I were to type it.