1·While Voltaire, Condorcet and Descartes used reason to confront superstition and feudalism, thinkers across the Channel – Brooks cites Burke, Hume and Adam Smith – thought it unwise to trust reason.
相比伏尔泰、孔多塞和笛卡尔这些利用理性去直面迷信和封建主义的法国启蒙思想者们，海峡对面的思想家，如布鲁克斯在书中所提及的伯克、休谟以及亚当·斯密，则认为信任理性是不明智的行为。
2·"Enjoy your own life without comparing it with that of another." - Marquis DE Condorcet, Philosopher.
“享受自己的生活，不要和别人比较。”—马奎斯·孔多塞(哲学家)。
3·Nicolas DE Condorcet's bold prediction (in the Future progress of the Human Mind, 1793) of the abolition of inequality between nations and the progress of equality within nations has not come true.
孔多塞的大胆预测(见《未来人类思想的进步》(1793))，即国际不平等的废除和国内平等的进步并没有实现。