Montesquieu

“ They might lay a restraint upon women, make laws to correct their manners, and to limit their luxury: but who knows but that by this means, they might lose that peculiar taste which would be the source of the riches of the nation, and that politeness which would render the country frequented by strangers?
It is the business of the legislature to follow the spirit of the nation, when it is not contrary to the principles of government; for we do nothing so well as when we act with freedom, and follow the bent of our natural genius. ”

“ A Love of the republic in a democracy is a love of the democracy; a love of the democracy is that of equality.
A love of the democracy is likewise that of frugality. As every individual ought to have here the same happiness and the same advantages, they ought consequently to taste the same pleasures and to form the same hopes; which cannot be expected but from a general frugality. ”

“ He sees the happiness of a society, of which he is not so much as a member; he sees the security of others fenced by laws, himself without any protection. He sees his master has a soul, that can enlarge itself; while his own is constrained to submit to a continual depression. Nothing more assimilates a man to a beast, than living among freemen, himself a slave. Such people as these are the natural enemies of the society, and their number must be dangerous.
It is not therefore to be wondered at, that moderate governments have been so frequently disturbed by revolts of slaves ”

“ The whole felicity of our monarchies consists in the opinion people have of the lenity of the government. A wrong-headed minister always wants to remind us of our slavery. But granting even that we are slaves, he ought to endeavour to conceal our miserable condition from us. All he can say or write, is that the prince is uneasy, that he is surprised, and that he will set things to rights. ”

“ The only recommendation that young men could have on this occasion, was owing to virtue and to the services done their country. He who had the greatest share of these endowments, chose which girl he liked out of the whole nation. Love, beauty, chastity, virtue, birth, and even wealth itself, were all, in some measure, the dowry of virtue. A nobler, and grander recompence, less chargeable to a petty state, and more capable of influencing both sexes, could scarce be imagined. ”

“ In a democracy the people are in some respects the sovereign, and in others the subject.
There can be no exercise of sovereignty but by their suffrages, which are their own will; now the sovereign's will is the sovereign himself. The laws therefore which establish the right of suffrage, are fundamental to this government. In fact, it is as important to regulate in a republic, in what manner, by whom, to whom, and concerning what, suffrages are to be given, as it is in a monarchy to know who is the prince and after what manner he ought to govern. ”

“ They let the evil continue, if they fear a worse; they are content with a lesser good, if they doubt of greater. They examine into the parts, to judge of them in connection, and they examine all the causes to discover their different effects.
Could I but succeed so as to afford new reasons to every man to love his prince, his country, his laws; new reasons to render him more sensible in every nation and government of the blessings be enjoys, I should think myself the most happy of mortals. ”

“ Chap. 1.SLAVERY, properly so called, is the establishment of a right which gives to one man such a power over another, as renders him absolute master of his life and fortune. The state of slavery is in its own nature bad. It is neither useful to the master nor to the slave; not to the slave, because he can do nothing through a motive of virtue; not to the master, because by having an unlimited authority over his slaves, he insensibly accustoms himself to the want of all moral virtues, and from thence grows fierce, hasty, severe, choleric, voluptuous, and cruel. ”

“ Aristocratical families ought therefore, as much as possible, to level themselves in appearance with the people. The more an aristocracy borders on democracy, the nearer it approaches to perfection; and the more it is imperfect, in proportion as it draws towards monarchy.
But the most imperfect of all, is that in which the part of the people that obeys, is in a state of civil servitude to those who command, as the aristocracy of Poland, where the peasants are slaves to the nobility. ”

“ A very droll spectacle it was in the last century to behold the impotent efforts the English made for the establishment of democracy. As those who had a share in the direction of public affairs were void of all virtue, as their ambition was inflamed by the success of the most daring of their members [2] , as the spirit of a faction was suppressed only by that of a succeeding faction, the government was continually changing: the people amazed at so many revolutions, fought every where for a democracy, without being able to find it. ”

“ THE enemies of a great prince, whose reign was protracted to an unusual length, have very often accused him, rather, I believe, from their own fears, than upon any solid foundation, of having formed and carried on a project of universal monarchy. Had he succeeded, nothing would have been more fatal to Europe, to his ancient subjects, to himself, and to his family. Heaven that knows our true interests, served him more by defeats, than it could have done by victories. ”

“ A Monarchy never destroys itself like a despotic government. But a kingdom of a moderate extent is liable to sudden invasions: It must therefore have strong holds to defend its frontiers; and troops to garrison those holds. The least spot of ground is disputed with art, with courage, and obstinacy. Despotic states make incursions against one another; it is monarchies only that wage war.
Fortresses are proper for monarchies; despotic governments are afraid of them. They dare not intrust them to any body, for there is no one that has a love for the prince or his government. ”

“ But it would be making a jest of mankind to put the same enclosure about those who treat of human sciences. The principles of geometry are most true; but if they were applied to things of taste, they would make reason itself talk nonsense. Nothing stifles a doctrine so effectually, as wrapping up every thing in a doctor's gown: the men who would always teach, are great obstacles to learning; there is no genius which they do not contract, when they overwhelm it with a million of frivolous scruples. If you have the best intentions in the world, they will force you to suspect them ”

“ It often happens that in repeating the same words, they have not the same meaning; this meaning depends on their connection with other things; and sometimes more is expressed by silence than by any discourse whatsoever. As there can be nothing so equivocal and ambiguous as all this; how is it possible to convert it into a crime of high treason? Where-ever this law is established; there is an end not only of liberty, but even of its very shadow. ”

“ But who will take up with such slaves? As for infants, nature, who has supplied their mothers with milk, had provided for their sustenance, and the remainder of their childhood approaches so near the age in which they are most capable of being of service, that he who supports them cannot be said to give them an equivalent, which can intitle him to be their master.
Nor is slavery less opposite to the civil law than to that of nature. What civil Jaw can restrain a slave from running away, since he is not a member of society, and consequently has no interest in any civil laws? ”

“ What I have here advanced, is confirmed by the unanimous testimony of historians, and is extremely agreeable to the nature of things. For it is clear that in a monarchy, where he who commands the execution of the laws generally thinks himself above them, there is less need of virtue than in a popular government, where the person intrusted with the execution of the laws, is sensible of his being subject himself to their direction. ”

“ Is it to be imagined that the laws which abolish the property of land, and the succession of estates, will diminish the avarice and cupidity of the great? By no means. They will rather stimulate this cupidity and avarice. The great men will be prompted to use a thousand oppressive methods, imagining they have no other property than the gold and silver which they are able to seize upon by violence or to conceal.
To prevent therefore the utter ruin of the state, the avidity of the prince ought to be moderated by some established custom. ”

“ For a revolution formed by liberty becomes a confirmation of liberty.
A free nation may have a deliverer; a nation enslaved can have only another oppressor.
For whoever has a power sufficient to dethrone an absolute prince, has a power sufficient to enable him to become absolute himself.
As the enjoyment of liberty, and even its support and preservation, consists in every man's being allowed to speak his thoughts and to lay open his sentiments; a citizen in this state will say or write whatever the laws do not expresly forbid to be said or wrote. ”

“ Being generally levelled against men of power and authority, they flatter the malignity of the people who are the governing party. In monarchies they are forbidden, but rather as a subject of civil animadversion, than as a capital crime. They may amuse the general malignity, please the malecontents, diminish the envy against public employments, give the people patience to suffer, and make them laugh at their sufferings.
But no government is so averse to fatyrical writings as the aristocratical. There the magistrates are petty sovereigns, but not great enough to despise affronts. ”

“ Glory and honor fall to the share of that nobility who neither know, see, nor feel any other happiness than honor and glory. Respect and esteem are for those ministers and magistrates, whose whole life is a continued succession of labour, and who watch day and night over the happiness of the empire. ”

“ Does he do well never to distinguish those who acknowledge only the religion of nature, from those who acknowledge both natural and revealed religion? Does he do well to turn frantic whenever the author considers man in the state of natural religion, and whenever he explains any thing on the principles of natural relgion? Does he do well to confound natural religion with Atheism? Have I not heard that natural religion is employed to prove the truth of revelation against the Deists? and that the same natural religion is employed to prove the existence of a God against the Atheists? ”

“ This nation inhabiting an island is not fond of conquering, because it would be weakened by distant conquests: especially as the soil of the island is good; because it has then no need of enriching itself by war; and as no citizen is subject to another, each sets a greater value on his own liberty, than on the glory of one, or any number of citizens.
Military men are there regarded as belonging to a profession which may be useful, but is often dangerous; and as men whose very services are burthensome to the nation: civil qualifications are therefore more esteemed than the military. ”

“ MACHIAVEL [6] attributes the loss of the liberty of Florence, to the people's not judging in a body in cases of high treason against themselves, as was customary at Rome. For this purpose they had eight judges: but the few, says Machiavel, are corrupted by a few. I should willingly adopt the maxim of this great man. But as in those cases the political interest prevails in some measure over the civil (for it is always an inconveniency that the people should be judge in their own cause) in order to remedy this evil, the laws must provide as much as possible for the security of individuals. ”

“ INSTEAD of inferring such fatal consequences from the right of conquest, much better would it have been for politicians to mention the advantages which this very right may sometimes give to a conquered people; advantages which would be more sensibly, more universally felt, were our law of nations exactly followed, and established over all the earth.
Conquered countries are, generally speaking, degenerated from their original institution. Corruption has crept in, the execution of the laws has been neglected, and the government is grown oppressive. ”

“ They rule in the court of the prince, and in the palaces of the great; and as they study the foibles, and not the virtues of their master, they lead him not by his virtues but by his weakness. Such were the freedmen of Rome in the times of the emperors.
When the principal slaves are eunuchs, let ever so many privileges be granted them, they can hardly be regarded as freedmen. For as they cannot have a family of their own, they are naturally attached to that of another; and it is only by a kind of fiction that they are considered as citizens. ”