Man, as a physical being, is like other bodies governed by invariable laws.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUThe success of most things depends upon knowing how long it will take to succeed.
More Baron de Montesquieu Quotes
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Injustice towards others is a threat to everybody
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Ever since the invention of gunpowder.. I continually tremble lest men should, in the end, uncover some secret which would provide a short way of abolishing mankind, of annihilating peoples and nations in their entirety.
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The spirit of moderation should also be the spirit of the lawgiver.
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The alms given to a naked man in the street do not fulfil the obligations of the state, which owes to every citizen a certain subsistence, a proper nourishment, convenient clothing, and a kind of life not incompatible with health.
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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.
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Liberty itself has appeared intolerable to those nations who have not been accustomed to enjoy it.
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We ought to be very cautious and circumspect in the prosecution of magic and heresy. The attempt to put down these two crimes may be extremely perilous to liberty.
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To succeed in the world we must look foolish but be wise.
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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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Great commanders write their actions with simplicity; because they receive more glory from facts than from words.
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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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We must have constantly present in our minds the difference between independence and liberty. Liberty is a right of doing whatever the laws permit, and if a citizen could do what they forbid he would no longer be possessed of liberty.
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There are only two cases in which war is just: first, in order to resist the aggression of an enemy, and second, in order to help an ally who has been attacked.
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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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Each citizen contributes to the revenues of the State a portion of his property in order that his tenure of the rest may be secure.
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The less luxury there is in a republic, the more it is perfect.
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Very good laws may be ill timed.
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Laws, in their most general signification, are the necessary relations derived from the nature of things.
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If I knew of something that could serve my nation but would ruin another, I would not propose it to my prince, for I am first a man and only then a Frenchman… because I am necessarily a man, and only accidentally am I French.
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When we seek after wit, we discover only foolishness.
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No kingdom has shed more blood than the kingdom of Christ.
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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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Talent is a gift which God has given us secretly, and which we reveal without perceiving it.
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Laws undertake to punish only overt acts.
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When one wants to change manners and customs, one should not do so by changing the laws.
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The state of slavery is in its own nature bad.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEU