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.
In the birth of societies it is the chiefs of states who give it its special character; and afterward it is this special character that forms the chiefs of state.
The pagan religion, which prohibited only some of the grosser crimes, and which stopped the hand but meddled not with the heart, might have crimes that were inexplicable.
![Baron de Montesquieu Quote - When the [law making] and [law enforcement] powers are united in the same person… there can be no liberty.](https://minimalistquotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/when-the-law-making-and-law-enforcement-powers-are-683x1024.jpg)
