Useless laws weaken the necessary laws.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUPolitical 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.
More Baron de Montesquieu Quotes
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Never create by law what can be accomplished by morality.
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The crime against nature will never make any great progress in society unless people are prompted to it by some particular custom.
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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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An empire founded by war has to maintain itself by war.
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I shall be obliged to wander to the right and to the left, that I may investigate and discover the truth.
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There is only one thing that can form a bond between men, and that is gratitude… we cannot give someone else greater power over us than we have ourselves.
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Love of the republic in a democracy, is a love of the democracy; love of the democracy is that of equality. Love of the democracy is likewise that of frugality.
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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.
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In the state of nature… all men are born equal, but they cannot continue in this equality. Society makes them lose it, and they recover it only by the protection of the law.
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It is not the young people that degenerate; they are not spoiled till those of mature age are already sunk into corruption.
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There is something in animals beside the power of motion. They are not machines; they feel.
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I have ever held it as a maxim never to do that through another which it was impossible for me to execute myself.
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The history of commerce is that of the communication of the people.
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If I knew something that would serve my country but would harm mankind, I would never reveal it; for I am a citizen of humanity first and by necessity, and a citizen of France second, and only by accident
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For a country, everything will be lost when the jobs of an economist and a banker become highly respected professions.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEU






