[The Pope] will make the king believe that three are only one, that the bread he eats is not bread… and a thousand other things of the same kind.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUIn every government there are three sorts of power: the legislative; the executive in respect to things dependent on the law of nations; and the executive in regard to matters that depend on the civil law.
More Baron de Montesquieu Quotes
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There are three species of government: republican, monarchical, and despotic.
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I shall be obliged to wander to the right and to the left, that I may investigate and discover the truth.
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Christianity stamped its character on jurisprudence; for empire has ever a connection with the priesthood.
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Laws, in their most general signification, are the necessary relations arising from the nature of things. In this sense all beings have their laws: the Deity His laws, the material world its laws, the intelligences superior to man their laws, the beasts their laws, man his laws.
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To love to read is to exchange hours of ennui for hours of delight.
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I have ever held it as a maxim never to do that through another which it was impossible for me to execute myself.
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Vanity and pride of nations; vanity is as advantageous to a government as pride is dangerous.
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When we seek after wit, we discover only foolishness.
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Republics end through luxury; monarchies through poverty.
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Men should be bewailed at their birth, and not at their death.
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Power should be a check on power.
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Oh, how empty is praise when it reflects back to its origin!
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There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetuated under the shield of law and in the name of justice.
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What unhappy beings men are! They constantly waver between false hopes and silly fears, and instead of relying on reason they create monsters to frighten themselves with, and phantoms which lead them astray.
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The state is the association of men, and not men themselves; the citizen may perish, and the man remain.
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Liberty… is there only when there is no abuse of power.
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The harshest tyranny is that which acts under the protection of legality and the banner of justice.
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What cowardice it is to be dismayed by the happiness of others and devastated by there good fortune.
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Great commanders write their actions with simplicity; because they receive more glory from facts than from words.
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Power ought to serve as a check to power.
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Laws, in their most general signification, are the necessary relations derived from the nature of things.
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I never listen to calumnies, because if they are untrue I run the risk of being deceived, and if they be true, of hating persons not worth thinking about.
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Better it is to say that the government most comfortable to nature is that which best agrees with the humor and disposition of the people in whose favor it is established.
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The power of divorce can be given only to those who feel the inconveniences of marriage, and who are sensible of the moment when it is for their interest to make them cease.
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The less luxury there is in a republic, the more it is perfect.
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The deterioration of every government begins with the decay of the principles on which it was founded.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEU