There is as yet no liberty if the power of judging be not separated from legislative power and the executrix

There are bad examples which are worse than crimes; and more states have perished from the violation of morality than from the violation of law.

In every government there are three sorts of power: the legislative; the executive in respect to things dependent on the law of nations; and the executive in regard to matters that depend on the civil law.

Fain would I glide down a gentle river, but I am carried away by a torrent.

Lunch kills half of Paris, supper the other half.

Nature is just to all mankind, and repays them for their industry. She renders them industrious by annexing rewards in proportion to their labor.

Men in excess of happiness or misery are equally inclined to severity. Witness conquerors and monks! It is mediocrity alone, and a mixture of prosperous and adverse fortune that inspire us with lenity and pity.