False happiness renders men stern and proud, and that happiness is never communicated. True happiness renders them kind and sensible, and that happiness is always shared.
Baron de MontesquieuThe spirit of commerce... renders every man willing to live on his own property...& prevents the growth of luxury.
Baron de MontesquieuThe deterioration of every government begins with the decay of the principles on which it was founded.
Baron de MontesquieuThe incomparable stupidity of life teaches us to love our parents; divine philosophy teaches us to forgive them.
Baron de MontesquieuNo 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.
Baron de Montesquieu