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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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Baron de Montesquieu
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Do you think that God will punish them for not practicing a religion which he did not reveal to them?
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There should be weeping at a man's birth, not at his death.
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Certain kinds of foolishness are such that a greater foolishness would be better.
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An empire founded by war has to maintain itself by war.
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I have ever held it as a maxim never to do that through another which it was impossible for me to execute myself
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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.
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Law should be like death, which spares no one.
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I have never known any distress that an hour's reading did not relieve.
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The prejudices of superstition are superior to all others, and have the strongest influence on the human mind.
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The less men think, the more they talk.
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There is no nation so powerful, as the one that obeys its laws not from principals of fear or reason, but from passion.
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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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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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When the body of the people is possessed of the supreme power, it is called a democracy.
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Vitam Impendere Vero (I consecrate my life to truth).
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The less luxury there is in a republic, the more it is perfect.
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A rational army would run away.
Baron de Montesquieu
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I never listen to calumnies, because if they are untrue I run the risk of being deceived, and if they be true, of hating persons not worth thinking about.
Baron de Montesquieu
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The Christian religion is a stranger to mere despotic power. The mildness so frequently recommended in the Gospel is incompatible with the despotic rage.
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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.
Baron de Montesquieu