Society can and does execute its own mandates， and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right， or any mandates at all in things with which it ought not to meddle， it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression， since， though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties， it leaves fewer means of escape， penetrating much more deeply into the details of life， and enslaving the soul itself.
The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges every one: and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind, who will but consult it, that... no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions.
