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If I knew something that would serve my country but would harm mankind, I would never reveal it for I am a citizen of humanity first and by necessity, and a citizen of France second, and only by accident

Baron de Montesquieu

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Baron de Montesquieu
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The Ottoman Empire whose sick body was not supported by a mild and regular diet, but by a powerful treatment, which continually exhausted it.
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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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In the matter of dress one should always keep below one's ability.
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Man, as a physical being, is like other bodies governed by invariable laws.
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There is as yet no liberty if the power of judging be not separated from legislative power and the executrix
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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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With truths of a certain kind, it is not enough to make them appear convincing: one must also make them felt. Of such kind are moral truths.
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When the savages of Louisiana wish to have fruit, they cut the tree at the bottom and gather the fruit. That is exactly a despotic government.
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An injustice to one is a threat made to all
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Every man who has power is impelled to abuse it.
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It is always the adventurous who accomplish great things.
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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.
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I shall be obliged to wander to the right and to the left, that I may investigate and discover the truth.
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You have to study a great deal to know a little.
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As men are affected in all ages by the same passions, the occasions which bring about great changes are different, but the causes are always the same.
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Mediocrity is a hand-rail.
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It is clear that in a monarchy, where he who commands the exceution of the laws generally thinks himself above them, there is lessneed of virtue than in a popular government, where the person entrusted with the execution of the laws is sensible of his being subject to their direction.
Baron de Montesquieu
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In bodies moved, the motion is received, increased, diminished, or lost, according to the relations of the quantity of matter and velocity each diversity is uniformity, each change is constancy.
Baron de Montesquieu
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Slowness is frequently the cause of much greater slowness.
Baron de Montesquieu
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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.
Baron de Montesquieu