...when the laws have ceased to be executed, as this can only come from the corruption of the republic, the state is already lost.
Baron de MontesquieuEach particular society begins to feel its strength, whence arises a state of war between different nations.
Baron de MontesquieuIn the birth of societies it is the chiefs of states who give it its special character; and afterward it is this special character that forms the chiefs of state.
Baron de Montesquieu