Montesquieu
Separation of powers
Sayings by Montesquieu
The less we think, the more we talk: so it is with women and politicians.
The spirit of the laws is the spirit of the legislator.
Republics are destroyed by luxury, monarchies by poverty.
The love of democracy is that of equality.
The state of monarchy is the most powerful of all governments.
The Romans, having conquered all the nations of the earth, had no longer any enemies to fight but themselves.
If a republic is small, it is destroyed by a foreign force; if it is large, it is ruined by an internal imperfection.
The climate, the religion, the laws, the maxims of government, the precedents, the morals, and the customs; all these things have a reciprocal influence on one another.
The less people think, the more they talk.
The women are much more powerful in those countries where they are allowed to appear in public.
A people is not free when its passions are not restrained by laws.
The true spirit of equality is not to have any, but to be equal to those whom one has chosen to command.
The more a people are civilized, the more they become enslaved.
The Romans were a nation of robbers, who, having robbed all the world, at last robbed themselves.
The principle of monarchy is honor.
It is always the case that the less a man thinks, the more he talks.
The less a nation has of true riches, the more it has of money.
The principle of despotic government is fear.
The natural effect of commerce is to lead to peace.
In a state of nature, indeed, all men are born equal, but they cannot continue in this equality.