When the body of the people is possessed of the supreme power, it is called a democracy.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUYou have to study a great deal to know a little.
More Baron de Montesquieu Quotes
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Peace is a natural effect of trade.
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Republics come to an end by luxurious habits; monarchies by poverty.
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Fain would I glide down a gentle river, but I am carried away by a torrent.
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Sometimes a man who deserves to be looked upon because he is a fool is despised only because he is a lawyer.
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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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The spirit of commerce… renders every man willing to live on his own property…& prevents the growth of luxury.
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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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The less men think, the more they talk.
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The alms given to a naked man in the street do not fulfil the obligations of the state, which owes to every citizen a certain subsistence, a proper nourishment, convenient clothing, and a kind of life not incompatible with health.
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Honor is unknown in despotic states.
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When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person, or in the same body of magistrates, there can be no liberty; because apprehensions may arise, lest the same monarch or senate should enact tyrannical laws, to execute them in a tyrannical manner.
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What orators lack in depth they make up for in length.
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There are countries where a man is worth nothing; there are others where he is worth less than nothing.
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It is always the adventurous who accomplish great things.
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Life was given to me as a favor, so I may abandon it when it is one no longer.
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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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When one wants to change manners and customs, one should not do so by changing the laws.
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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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Every man who has power is impelled to abuse it.
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The culminating point of administration is to know well how much power, great or small, we ought to use in all circumstances.
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Slowness is frequently the cause of much greater slowness.
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The life of man is but a succession of vain hopes and groundless fears.
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Each citizen contributes to the revenues of the State a portion of his property in order that his tenure of the rest may be secure.
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You have to study a great deal to know a little.
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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 love of study is in us the only lasting passion. All the others quit us in proportion as this miserable machine which holds them approaches its ruins.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEU