Montesquieu

“ Freed from this new yoke, the people were swayed only by their savage instincts. Every man determined to do what was right in his own eyes; and in attending to his own interests, the general welfare was forgotten. ”

“ Still another Troglodite, seeing some wool exposed for sale, asked the price of it. The seller argued thus with himself: “At the market price I should receive for my wool as much money as would buy two measures of corn; but I will sell it for four times that sum, and then I can buy eight measures.” As the other wanted the wool, he paid the price demanded. “Many thanks,” said the vendor, “I shall now buy some corn.” “What rejoined the buyer, “you want corn? I have some to sell; but the price will rather astonish you. You must know that, as there is a famine in the land, corn is extremely dear. ”

“ In the fulfillment of the task you have prescribed me, I do not think there is any necessity for argument of an abstruse order. There are certain truths which it is not sufficient to know, but which must be realized: such are the great commonplaces of morality. ”

“ One year a drought occurred, so severe, that the uplands bore no crop at all, whilst those that were well-watered brought forth abundantly. In consequence of this, the highlanders almost all died of hungered, because the people of the lowlands had no mercy on them, and refused to share the harvest. ”