Baron De Montesquieu

As soon as man enters into a state of society he loses the sense of his weakness; equality ceases, and then commences the state of war.

The deterioration of every government begins with the decay of the principles on which it was founded.

No tyranny is more cruel than the one practised in the shadow of the laws and under color of justice - when, so to speak, one proceeds to drown the unfortunate on the very plank by which they had saved themselves. And since a tyrant never lacks instruments for his tyranny, Tiberius always found judges ready to condemn as many people as he might suspect.

There is something in animals beside the power of motion. They are not machines; they feel.

Power should be a check on power.

The English are busy folk; they have no time in which to be polite.

Every man who has power is impelled to abuse it.

The state of slavery is in its own nature bad.

Do you think that God will punish them for not practicing a religion which he did not reveal to them?

Power ought to serve as a check to power.

The power of divorce can be given only to those who feel the inconveniences of marriage, and who are sensible of the moment when it is for their interest to make them cease.

If I knew of something that could serve my nation but would ruin another, I would not propose it to my prince, for I am first a man and only then a Frenchman... because I am necessarily a man, and only accidentally am I French.

There is as yet no liberty if the power of judging be not separated from legislative power and the executrix

With truths of a certain kind, it is not enough to make them appear convincing: one must also make them felt. Of such kind are moral truths.

In republican governments, men are all equal; equal they are also in despotic governments: in the former, because they are everything; in the latter, because they are nothing.

Although born in a prosperous realm, we did not believe that its boundaries should limit our knowledge, and that the lore of the East should alone enlighten us.

That anyone who possesses power has a tendency to abuse it is an eternal truth. They tend to go as far as the barriers will allow.

A nation may lose its liberties in a day and not miss them in a century.

The severity of the laws prevents their execution.

Lunch kills half of Paris, supper the other half.

It is always the adventurers who do great things, not the sovereigns of great empires.