Countries are well cultivated, not as they are fertile, but as they are free. - Montesquieu

There is no greater tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of the law and in the name of justice. (Cambridge University Press (September 29, 1989)

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 entrusted with the execution of the laws is sensible of his being subject to their direction.

C'est le destin des héros de se ruiner à conquérir des pays qu'ils perdent soudain, ou à soumettre des nations qu'ils sont obligés eux-mêmes de détruire; comme cet insensé qui se consumait à acheter des statues qu'il jetait dans la mer et des glaces qu'il brisait aussitôt.