Cesare Beccaria

“ Be these as they may, I assert that the punishment of a nobleman should in no wise differ from that of the lowest member of society.
Every lawful distinction, either in honours or riches, supposes previous equality, founded on the laws, on which all the members of society are considered as being equally dependent. We should suppose that men, in renouncing their natural despotism, said, the wisest and most industrious among us should obtain the greatest honours, and his dignity shall descend to his posterity. ”

“ The precise equality of a punishment can never be more than external, as it is in proportion to the degree of sensibility, which differs in every individual. The infamy of an innocent family may be easily obliterated by some public demonstration of favour from the sovereign; and forms have always more influence than reason on the gazing multitude. ”

“ The fortunate and happy may hope for greater honours, but let him not therefore be less afraid, than others, of violating those conditions on which he is exalted. It is true indeed that no such decrees were ever made in a general diet of mankind, but they exist in the invariable relations of things ”