Certain kinds of foolishness are such that a greater foolishness would be better.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUWe 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.
More Baron de Montesquieu Quotes
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The less luxury there is in a republic, the more it is perfect.
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Useless laws weaken the necessary laws.
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Liberty itself has appeared intolerable to those nations who have not been accustomed to enjoy it.
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Liberty is the right of doing whatever the laws permit.
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The less men think, the more they talk.
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Do you think that God will punish them for not practicing a religion which he did not reveal to them?
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Injustice towards others is a threat to everybody
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If triangles had a god, he would have three sides.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEU -
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.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEU -
Talent is a gift which God has given us secretly, and which we reveal without perceiving it.
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They who assert that a blind fatality produced the various effects we behold in this world talk very absurdly; for can anything be more unreasonable than to pretend that a blind fatality could be productive of intelligent beings.
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Each particular society begins to feel its strength, whence arises a state of war between different nations.
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I acknowledge that history is full of religious wars: but we must distinguish; it is not the multiplicity of religions which has produced these wars; it was the intolerating spirit which animated that one which thought she had the power of governing.
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The culminating point of administration is to know well how much power, great or small, we ought to use in all circumstances.
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Nature is just to all mankind, and repays them for their industry. She renders them industrious by annexing rewards in proportion to their labor.
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In a republic there is no coercive force as in other governments, the laws must therefore endeavor to supply this defect.
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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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Great commanders write their actions with simplicity; because they receive more glory from facts than from words.
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Friendship is an arrangement by which we undertake to exchange small favors for big ones.
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We receive three educations, one from our parents, one from our school-masters, and one from the world. The third contradicts all that the first two teach us.
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I suffer from the disease of writing books and being ashamed of them when they are finished.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEU -
Those who have few affairs to attend to are great speakers. The less men think, the more they talk.
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It is clear that in a monarchy, where he who commands the exceution of the laws generally thinks himself above them, there is lessneed 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.
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In the matter of dress one should always keep below one’s ability.
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The wickedness of mankind makes it necessary for the law to suppose them better than they really are.
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The spirit of moderation should also be the spirit of the lawgiver.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEU