Republics are brought to their ends by luxury; monarchies by poverty.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUCountries are well cultivated, not as they are fertile, but as they are free.
More Baron de Montesquieu Quotes
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It is necessary from the very nature of things that power should be a check to power.
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The false notion of miracles comes of our vanity, which makes us believe we are important enough for the Supreme Being to upset nature on our behalf.
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Solemnity is the shield of idiots
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Politics are a smooth file, which cuts gradually, and attains its end by slow progression.
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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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Not to be loved is a misfortune, but it is an insult to be loved no longer.
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Happy the people whose annals are tiresome.
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A good writer does not write as people write, but as he writes.
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Power ought to serve as a check to power.
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We must have constantly present in our minds the difference between independence and liberty. Liberty is a right of doing whatever the laws permit, and if a citizen could do what they forbid he would no longer be possessed of liberty.
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In constitutional states, liberty is compensation for heavy taxes; in dictatorships, the subsititue is light taxes.
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Never create by law what can be accomplished by morality.
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Liberty is the right of doing whatever the laws permit.
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An empire founded by war has to maintain itself by war.
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We receive three educations, one from our parents, one from our school-masters, and one from the world. The third contradicts all that the first two teach us.
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There are only two cases in which war is just: first, in order to resist the aggression of an enemy, and second, in order to help an ally who has been attacked.
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The success of most things depends upon knowing how long it will take to succeed.
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Experience constantly proves that every man who has power is impelled to abuse it; he goes on till he is pulled up by some limits. Who would say it! virtue even has need of limits.
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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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Liberty… is there only when there is no abuse of power.
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Passion makes us feel, but never see clearly.
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But constant experience shows us that every man invested with power is apt to abuse it, and to carry his authority as far as it will go.
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The English are busy; they don’t have time to be polite.
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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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What orators lack in depth they make up for in length.
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Vanity and pride of nations; vanity is as advantageous to a government as pride is dangerous.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEU