Baron De Montesquieu

The sublimity of administration consists in knowing the proper degree of power that should be exerted on different occasions.

What orators lack in depth they make up for in length.

Liberty is the right to do what the law permits.

I have always observed that to succeed in the world one should seem a fool, but be wise.

If we only wanted to be happy, it would be easy; but we want to be happier than other people, and that is almost always difficult, since we think them happier than they are.

The less men think, the more they talk.

If I knew something that would serve my country but would harm mankind, I would never reveal it; for I am a citizen of humanity first and by necessity, and a citizen of France second, and only by accident

There is only one thing that can form a bond between men, and that is gratitude... we cannot give someone else greater power over us than we have ourselves.

We receive three educations, one from our parents, one from our school-masters, and one from the world. The third contradicts all that the first two teach us.

Not to be loved is a misfortune, but it is an insult to be loved no longer.

Friendship is a contract in which we render small services in expectation of big ones.

In the state of nature... all men are born equal, but they cannot continue in this equality. Society makes them lose it, and they recover it only by the protection of the law.

What unhappy beings men are! They constantly waver between false hopes and silly fears, and instead of relying on reason they create monsters to frighten themselves with, and phantoms which lead them astray.

Solemnity is the shield of idiots

...when the laws have ceased to be executed, as this can only come from the corruption of the republic, the state is already lost.