Random Pynchonesque theme in pre-revolutionary France

[Ian Livingston]

"Laws are destined above all to safeguard property. Now, as one can
take away much more from the man who has than from him who has not,
they are obviously a guarantee accorded to the rich, against the poor.
It is difficult to believe, and yet it is clearly demonstrable, that
the laws are in some respects a conspiracy against the majority of the
human race....

And:
"Never has want been more universal, more murderous for the class
which is condemned to it..."

--Simon-Henri Linguet in Annales politique (c.1777-92), cited in
Rousseau and Revolution by Will Durant.

-- 
"Less than any man have I  excuse for prejudice; and I feel for all
creeds the warm sympathy of one who has come to learn that even the
trust in reason is a precarious faith, and that we are all fragments
of darkness groping for the sun. I know no more about the ultimates
than the simplest urchin in the streets." -- Will Durant