Montesquieu Quotes

Power ought to serve as a check to power.

When those who are governed do too little, those who govern can - and often will - do too much.

Freedom is not a concept in which people can do anything they want, be anything they can be. Freedom is about authority.

Power must never be trusted without a check.

Governance is a way of organizing, amplifying, and constraining power.

When you establish a powerful position, the first think you have to do is check that power and make it accountable.

If you cannot trust our leaders, you cannot govern.

For democracy to triumph, the natural predatory tendencies of rulers must be restrained by rigorous rules and impartial institutions.

Balance is a good thing - checks and balances are a good thing.

Freedom is not possible without authority - otherwise it would turn into chaos and authority is not possible without freedom - otherwise it would turn into tyranny.

The law always limits every power it gives.

Any who wield a large amount of power should always feel the check of power. The very principle on which the nation exists is that no person shall rise above power.

Each age must … contend anew with the question of power and accountability.

You can't, in a government agency, regulate everything that moves ... you can't regulate everything ... you must strike a balance.

A man is the prisoner of his power.

The fellow that has power is the one who uses it sparingly ... I had more power when I went into office than when I went out.

Free elections are only one part of democracy. Constraint on the power of government and the rule of law and the institutions of democracy are just as important.

Oversight was not meant to be comfortable.

Separation of powers was designed to affix responsibility, not to evade it.

He who has the greatest power put into his hands will only become the more impatient of any restraint in the use of it.

We will just have to tell the House that they will have to accept our judgment and we cannot answer a great many questions that might be asked

I think it's time that we said to people who are incapable of acknowledging that they've ever got anything wrong: 'I'm sorry, you've had your day.' Unelected, unaccountable elites, I'm afraid it's time to say, 'You're fired. We are going to take back control.'

Ethics and power are separate.

The lesson is the importance of never becoming untethered to oversight and accountability.

If there is not competent Opposition, the government that comes to power won't have anyone to hold them accountable.