No tyranny is more cruel than the one practiced in the shadow of the laws and under color of justice — when, so to speak, one proceeds to drown the u… - Montesquieu

There is no tyranny more cruel than that which is exercised within the shade of the law and with the colours of justice.

The Tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy
is not so dangerous to the public welfare as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy.

Mon cher Usbek, quand je vois des hommes qui rampent sur un atome, c'est-à-dire la terre, qui n'est qu'un point de l'univers, se proposer directement pour modèles de la Providence, je ne sais comment accorder tant d'extravagance avec tant de petitesse.

In republican governments, men are all equal; equal they are also in despotic governments: in the former, because they are everything; in the latter, because they are nothing.