When the savages of Louisiana wish to have fruit, they cut the tree at the bottom and gather the fruit. That is exactly a despotic government.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUSuccess in the majority of circumstances depends on knowing how long it takes to succeed.
More Baron de Montesquieu Quotes
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When we seek after wit, we discover only foolishness.
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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.
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Although born in a prosperous realm, we did not believe that its boundaries should limit our knowledge, and that the lore of the East should alone enlighten us.
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There is something in animals beside the power of motion. They are not machines; they feel.
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The English are busy; they don’t have time to be polite.
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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 spirit of commerce… renders every man willing to live on his own property…& prevents the growth of luxury.
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An injustice to one is a threat made to all
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There is hardly any grief that an hour’s reading will not dissipate.
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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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When one wants to change manners and customs, one should not do so by changing the laws.
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If one only wished to be happy, this could be easily accomplished; but we wish to be happier that other people, and this is always difficult, for we believe others to be happier than they are. you are comparing your lot with an ideal which is of course better and therefore you feel worse
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The laws do not take upon them to punish any other than overt acts.
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Liberty… is there only when there is no abuse of power.
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The mood and temper of the public in regard to the treatment of crime and criminals is one of the most unfailing tests of the civilisation of any country.
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Republics end through luxury; monarchies through poverty.
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When the body of the people is possessed of the supreme power, it is called a democracy.
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To love to read is to exchange hours of ennui for hours of delight.
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Not to be loved is a misfortune, but it is an insult to be loved no longer.
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Europe is a state with several provinces
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Vanity and pride of nations; vanity is as advantageous to a government as pride is dangerous.
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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.
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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.
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Passion makes us feel, but never see clearly.
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Those who have few affairs to attend to are great speakers. The less men think, the more they talk.
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Friendship is a contract in which we render small services in expectation of big ones.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEU