Montesquieu

There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetuated under the shield of law and in the name of justice.

When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person, or in the same body of magistrates, there can be no liberty; because apprehensions may arise, lest the same monarch or senate should enact tyrannical laws, to execute them in a tyrannical manner.

To become truly great, one has to stand with people, not above them.

The love of democracy is that of equality.

Luxury is a necessity that begins where necessity ends.

Slavery is not only an odious institution, but it is also an unjust one.

The less men think, the more they talk.

A government is like everything else: to preserve it we must love it.

There is no nation so powerful, as the one that obeys its laws not from fear, but from respect.

Liberty consists in being able to do what one ought to want, and in not being forced to do what one ought not to want.

The English are a free people, but they are not free enough.

The spirit of moderation should be the spirit of the legislator.

Republics decline through luxury; monarchies through poverty.

An empire founded by war has to maintain itself by war.

The political liberty of the subject is a tranquillity of mind arising from the opinion each person has of his safety.

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

The principle of democracy is virtue.

Useless laws weaken the necessary laws.

The best way to make laws respected is to make them respectable.

It is not the young people that are corrupt; it is the old people that are corrupting them.