Harold J. Laski: “For no one could pretend that William of Orange ruled by Divine Right.”

But we cannot understand the eighteenth century, or its theories, unless we realize that its temper was still dominantly aristocratic.

The contract is thus not general as with Hobbes but limited and specific in character.

Where mistakes are made, where there is corruption, or dishonesty, or abuse, it can be brought home forthwith to its authors.

We do not build Utopias; and the attempt to discover the eternal principles of political right invites disaster at the outset.