Power ought to serve as a check to power.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUThe severity of the laws prevents their execution.
More Baron de Montesquieu Quotes
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To succeed in the world we must look foolish but be wise.
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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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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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Raillery is a mode of speaking in favor of one’s wit at the expense of one’s better nature.
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Democracy is corrupted not only when the spirit of equality is corrupted, but likewise when they fall into a spirit of extreme equality.
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In the matter of dress one should always keep below one’s ability.
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Republics come to an end by luxurious habits; monarchies by poverty.
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In the infancy of societies, the chiefs of state shape its institutions; later the institutions shape the chiefs of state.
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If you run after wit, you will succeed in catching folly.
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The power of divorce can be given only to those who feel the inconveniences of marriage, and who are sensible of the moment when it is for their interest to make them cease.
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The less men think, the more they talk.
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We ought to be very cautious and circumspect in the prosecution of magic and heresy. The attempt to put down these two crimes may be extremely perilous to liberty.
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The sublimity of administration consists in knowing the proper degree of power that should be exerted on different occasions.
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Friendship is an arrangement by which we undertake to exchange small favors for big ones.
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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