על עשרת הדברות כ״וOn the Decalogue 26
א׳
1[135] The third commandment in the second five forbids stealing, for he who gapes after what belongs to others is the common enemy of the State, willing to rob all, but able only to filch from some, because, while his covetousness extends indefinitely, his feebler capacity cannot keep pace with it but restricted to a small compass reaches only to a few.
ב׳
2[136] So all thieves who have acquired the strength rob whole cities, careless of punishment because their high distinction seems to set them above the laws. These are oligarchically-minded persons, ambitious for despotism or domination, who perpetrate thefts on a great scale, disguising the real fact of robbery under the grand-sounding names of government and leadership.
ג׳
3[137] Let a man, then, learn from his earliest years to filch nothing by stealth that belongs to another, however small it may be, because custom in the course of time is stronger than nature, and little things if not checked grow and thrive till they attain to great dimensions.