Morals are a judgement common to those who use it, an unwritten law of tribe or city, a voluntary principle of justice, acceptable to all good people with reference of that same matters, an invention made, not by any human being, but rather by life and time itself. Therefore, while of the laws in general each obtains its power through having been approved one and for all, morals are constantly being subjected to scrutiny. Moreover, while no law will readily be chosen by everybody — for it is by the opinions of the majority that it is ratified — yet morals could not come into being if not accepted by all. Again, while law by threats and violence maintains its mastery over others, it is only when we are persuaded by our morals that we deem them excellent and advantageous.

Verily it seems to me that we might liken the written law to the power of tyranny, for it is by means of fear and through injunction that each measure is made effective; but morals might rather be likened to the benevolence of kingship, for of their own volition all men follow morals, and without constraint. Again, we know of many laws which have been repealed by those who made them, because they judged them to be bad; but no one could readily point to a moral which had been dissolved. Nay, it is altogether easier to do away with any written ordinance you please than to do away with any moral. For written ordinances, once the writing is erased, are done for in a single day; but a city's usage it is impossible to destroy in a very long period of time. Besides, while laws are preserved on tablets of wood or of stone, each moral is preserved within our very own hearts. And this sort of preservation is surer and better. Furthermore, the written law is harsh and stern, whereas nothing is more pleasant than morals. Then too, our laws we learn from others, but our morals we all know perfectly.