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What unhappy beings men are! They constantly waver between false hopes and silly fears, and instead of relying on reason they create monsters to frighten themselves with, and phantoms which lead them astray.

Baron de Montesquieu

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Baron de Montesquieu
Constantly
Relying
Lead
Phantoms
Beings
Hopes
Instead
Monsters
Create
Fears
Fear
Silly
Waver
Reason
Unhappy
Astray
Men
False
Frighten

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The life of man is but a succession of vain hopes and groundless fears.
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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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Men should be bewailed at their birth, and not at their death.
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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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Success in the majority of circumstances depends on knowing how long it takes to succeed.
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The less men think, the more they talk.
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Political liberty is to be found only in moderate governments.
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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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Useless laws weaken the necessary laws.
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A good writer does not write as people write, but as he writes.
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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.
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There is hardly any grief that an hour's reading will not dissipate.
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Men in excess of happiness or misery are equally inclined to severity. Witness conquerors and monks! It is mediocrity alone, and a mixture of prosperous and adverse fortune that inspire us with lenity and pity.
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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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