The English are busy folk; they have no time in which to be polite.
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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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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Lunch kills half of Paris, supper the other half.
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The incomparable stupidity of life teaches us to love our parents; divine philosophy teaches us to forgive them.
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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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Power ought to serve as a check to power.
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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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If you run after wit, you will succeed in catching folly.
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It is clear that in a monarchy, where he who commands the exceution of the laws generally thinks himself above them, there is lessneed of virtue than in a popular government, where the person entrusted with the execution of the laws is sensible of his being subject to their direction.
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I like peasants-they are not sophisticated enough to reason speciously.
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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 shall be obliged to wander to the right and to the left, that I may investigate and discover the truth.
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Power should be a check on power.
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Mediocrity is a hand-rail.
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It is always the adventurers who do great things, not the sovereigns of great empires.
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Man, as a physical being, is like other bodies governed by invariable laws.
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The laws do not take upon them to punish any other than overt acts.
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Certain kinds of foolishness are such that a greater foolishness would be better.
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Religious wars are not caused by the fact that there is more than one religion, but by the spirit of intolerance… the spread of which can only be regarded as the total eclipse of human reason.
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The public business must be carried on with a certain motion, neither too quick nor too slow.
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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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Republics end through luxury; monarchies through poverty.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEU -
Liberty itself has appeared intolerable to those nations who have not been accustomed to enjoy it.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEU -
The history of commerce is that of the communication of the people.
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Political liberty is to be found only in moderate governments.
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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 really intelligent man feels what other men only know.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEU