Politics are a smooth file, which cuts gradually, and attains its end by slow progression.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUMen, who are rogues individually, are in the mass very honorable people.
More Baron de Montesquieu Quotes
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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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An author is a fool who, not content with boring those he lives with, insists on boring future generations.
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There 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.
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What cowardice it is to be dismayed by the happiness of others and devastated by there good fortune.
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If we only wanted to be happy, it would be easy; but we want to be happier than other people, and that is almost always difficult, since we think them happier than they are.
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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.
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In the matter of dress one should always keep below one’s ability.
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Liberty is the right of doing whatever the laws permit.
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If you run after wit, you will succeed in catching folly.
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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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As virtue is necessary in a republic, and honor in a monarchy, fear is what is required in a despotism. As for virtue, it is not at all necessary, and honor would be dangerous there.
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Very good laws may be ill timed.
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For a country, everything will be lost when the jobs of an economist and a banker become highly respected professions.
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When the [law making] and [law enforcement] powers are united in the same person… there can be no liberty.
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Each particular society begins to feel its strength, whence arises a state of war between different nations.
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Power ought to serve as a check to power.
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The life of man is but a succession of vain hopes and groundless fears.
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Study has been for me the sovereign remedy against all the disappointments of life. I have never known any trouble that an hour’s reading would not dissipate.
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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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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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Political 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.
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False happiness renders men stern and proud, and that happiness is never communicated. True happiness renders them kind and sensible, and that happiness is always shared.
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The Ottoman Empire whose sick body was not supported by a mild and regular diet, but by a powerful treatment, which continually exhausted it.
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Liberty is the right to do what the law permits.
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Honor sets all the parts of the body politic in motion, and by its very action connects them; thus each individual advances the public good, while he only thinks of promoting his own interest.
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When virtue is banished, ambition invades the minds of those who are disposed to receive it and avarice possesses the whole community.
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