Countries are not cultivated in proportion to their fertility, but to their liberty.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUHonor is unknown in despotic states.
More Baron de Montesquieu Quotes
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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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The less luxury there is in a republic, the more it is perfect.
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Virtue in a republic is the love of one’s country, that is the love of equality.
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The state is the association of men, and not men themselves; the citizen may perish, and the man remain.
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When God endowed human beings with brains, He did not intend to guarantee them.
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Slowness is frequently the cause of much greater slowness.
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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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The pagan religion, which prohibited only some of the grosser crimes, and which stopped the hand but meddled not with the heart, might have crimes that were inexplicable.
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The spirit of moderation should also be the spirit of the lawgiver.
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Law should be like death, which spares no one.
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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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The sublimity of administration consists in knowing the proper degree of power that should be exerted on different occasions.
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I shall ever repeat it, that mankind are governed not by extremes, but by principals of moderation.
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The public business must be carried on with a certain motion, neither too quick nor too slow.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEU