Montesquieu

The inhabitants of warm countries are timid like old men; those of cold countries are courageous like young ones.

Slavery is not good by its nature; it is useful neither to the master nor to the slave.

The people are extremely well qualified for choosing those whom they are to entrust with part of their authority.

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.

The Christian religion, which orders men to love one another, no doubt wants the best political laws and the best civil laws for each people.

The severity of the climate should render the laws more severe.

The people who have no kings are often more free than those who have.

The English are the people in the world who have best known how to take advantage of each of these three great things: religion, commerce, and liberty.

The people's deputies should not be chosen from the general body of the nation; but it is proper that in every considerable place a deputy should be elected by the inhabitants.

The more a government approaches to a republic, the less is the business of the prince.

The women of Europe have lost all their influence; they have none in the state, none in the church, none in the family.

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

If I knew of something that would be useful to me, and at the same time harmful to my family, I would drive it out of my mind. If I knew of something that would be useful to my family, and harmful to my country, I would try to forget it. If I knew of something that would be useful to my country, and harmful to Europe, or to the human race, I would consider it a crime.

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

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

Luxury is a necessity that is contrary to the general good.

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

The greater the state, the more despotic the government, and the more the prince is forced to rely on fear.

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

The custom of having many wives is a bad one, not so much on account of the inconvenience it causes to the husbands, as on account of that which it creates for the wives.