In republican governments, men are all equal; equal they are also in despotic governments: in the former, because they are everything; in the latter, because they are nothing.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUThere is still another inconvenieney in conquests made by democracies; their government is ever odious to the conquered states. It is apparently monarchical, but in reality it is more oppressive than monarchy, as the experience of all ages and countries evinces.
More Baron de Montesquieu Quotes
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Countries are not cultivated in proportion to their fertility, but to their liberty.
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The laws do not take upon them to punish any other than overt acts.
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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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The spirit of moderation should also be the spirit of the lawgiver.
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Republics come to an end by luxurious habits; monarchies by poverty.
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A fondness for reading changes the inevitable dull hours of our life into exquisite hours of delight.
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To succeed in the world we must look foolish but be wise.
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There is no one, says another, whom fortune does not visit once in his life; but when she does not find him ready to receive her, she walks in at the door, and flies out at the window.
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It is always the adventurers who do great things, not the sovereigns of great empires.
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Happy the people whose annals are tiresome.
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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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The Christian religion is a stranger to mere despotic power. The mildness so frequently recommended in the Gospel is incompatible with the despotic rage.
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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 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 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.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEU