When a government is arrived to that degree of corruption as to be incapable of reforming itself, it would not lose much by being new moulded.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUHonor sets all the parts of the body politic in motion, and by its very action connects them; thus each individual advances the public good, while he only thinks of promoting his own interest.
More Baron de Montesquieu Quotes
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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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Slavery, properly so called, is the establishment of a right which gives to one man such a power over another as renders him absolute master of his life and fortune.
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A rational army would run away.
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Political liberty in a citizen is that tranquillity of spirit which comes from the opinion each one has of his security, and in order for him to have this liberty the government must be such that one citizen cannot fear another citizen.
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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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No kingdom has shed more blood than the kingdom of Christ.
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Virtue is necessary to a republic.
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Vanity and pride of nations; vanity is as advantageous to a government as pride is dangerous.
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It is rare to find learned men who are clean, do not stink and have a sense of humour.
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Friendship is a contract in which we render small services in expectation of big ones.
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Power ought to serve as a check to power.
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What orators lack in depth they make up for in length.
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The laws do not take upon them to punish any other than overt acts.
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Republics end through luxury; monarchies through poverty.
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Men in excess of happiness or misery are equally inclined to severity. Witness conquerors and monks! It is mediocrity alone, and a mixture of prosperous and adverse fortune that inspire us with lenity and pity.
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I have never known any distress that an hour’s reading did not relieve.
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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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Europe is a state with several provinces
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There are bad examples which are worse than crimes; and more states have perished from the violation of morality than from the violation of law.
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The coffee is prepared in such a way that it makes those who drink it witty: at least there is not a single soul who, on quitting the house, does not believe himself four times wittier that when he entered it.
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There are countries where a man is worth nothing; there are others where he is worth less than nothing.
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To succeed in the world we must look foolish but be wise.
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A nation may lose its liberties in a day and not miss them in a century.
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There is hardly any grief that an hour’s reading will not dissipate.
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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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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.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEU