Montesquieu

"It is a happy thing for states that all matters are not regulated by laws."

"True love is like seeing ghosts; everyone talks about it but few have seen it."

"The distinction between a despot and a monarch is that one is feared while the other is loved."

"Mankind in general are happiest when they are least restrained."

"The empire of the sea is the empire of the world."

"Habit is a sort of second nature."

"In the human heart there is a perpetual generation of passions; so that to love is always to suffer."

"The human spirit has need of security and liberty above all things."

"If I could know something useful to my family but harmful to my country, I would reject it."

"Experience makes us less confident in our judgments."

"Truth is like light—it travels without breaking anything."

"The surest sign of a coming breakdown is when the laws become too numerous."

"Art is not what you see, but what you make others see."

"The study of history teaches us that revolutions are born from the abuse of liberty."

"Perfect freedom and perfect slavery are equally impossible."

"Intelligence is the source of all virtue and all vice."

"The body politic has the same need for remedies as any living body."

"A mind darkened by passion will judge amiss."

"The laws of nature know neither king nor subject."

"When liberty is destroyed by arms, it is tyranny."

"The happiness of a nation is not merely the happiness of individuals."

"The tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy is not so dangerous to the public welfare as the apathy of the citizens in a democracy."

"Commerce is a cure for the most destructive prejudices; for it brings different nations into contact, and nothing softens manners like commerce."

"If I knew something useful to my nation but ruinous to mankind, I would reject it."

"The less corruption there is in a government, the more it is feared by its enemies."

"Useless laws weaken the necessary laws."

"The jealousy of trade is the jealousy of a merchant who fears he may lose a few reals."

"Great objects require great means of support."

"I have never heard of any crime which I have not sometimes wished I had committed."

"The misfortune of the wise is better than the prosperity of the fool."