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Every man who has power is impelled to abuse it.

Baron de Montesquieu

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Baron de Montesquieu
Men
Impelled
Abuse
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I suffer from the disease of writing books and being ashamed of them when they are finished.
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An author is a fool who, not content with boring those he lives with, insists on boring future generations.
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In republican governments, men are all equal equal they are also in despotic governments: in the former, because they are everything in the latter, because they are nothing.
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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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To become truly great, one has to stand with people, not above them.
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A rational army would run away.
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Vanity and pride of nations vanity is as advantageous to a government as pride is dangerous.
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Mediocrity is a hand-rail.
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Men should be bewailed at their birth, and not at their death.
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I have always observed that to succeed in the world one should seem a fool, but be wise.
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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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Slowness is frequently the cause of much greater slowness.
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There should be weeping at a man's birth, not at his death.
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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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Laws undertake to punish only overt acts.
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Love of the republic in a democracy, is a love of the democracy love of the democracy is that of equality. Love of the democracy is likewise that of frugality.
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Laws, in their most general signification, are the necessary relations derived from the nature of things.
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Law should be like death, which spares no one.
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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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Study has been for me the sovereign remedy against all the disappointments of life. I have never known any trouble that an hour's reading would not dissipate.
Baron de Montesquieu