Laws undertake to punish only overt acts.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUPeople here argue about religion interminably, but it appears that they are competing at the same time to see who can be the least devout.
More Baron de Montesquieu Quotes
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Every man who has power is impelled to abuse it.
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Never create by law what can be accomplished by morality.
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It is unreasonable … to oblige a man not to attempt the defense of his own life.
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Liberty… is there only when there is no abuse of power.
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I shall ever repeat it, that mankind are governed not by extremes, but by principals of moderation.
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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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Countries are not cultivated in proportion to their fertility, but to their liberty.
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Thus the creation, which seems an arbitrary act, supposes laws as invariable as those of the fatality of the Atheists. It would be absurd to say that the Creator might govern the world without those rules, since without them it could not subsist.
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The Ottoman Empire whose sick body was not supported by a mild and regular diet, but by a powerful treatment, which continually exhausted it.
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Society is the union of men and not the men themselves.
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To lend money without interest, is certainly an action laudable and extremely good; but it is obvious, that it is only a counsel of religion, and not a civil law.
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A man who writes well writes not as others write, but as he himself writes; it is often in speaking badly that he speaks well.
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As men are affected in all ages by the same passions, the occasions which bring about great changes are different, but the causes are always the same.
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It is requisite the government be so constituted as one man need not be afraid of another.
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The history of commerce is that of the communication of the people.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEU






