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Fain would I glide down a gentle river, but I am carried away by a torrent.

Baron de Montesquieu

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Baron de Montesquieu
Would
Fain
Torrent
Glide
Carried
River
Gentle
Rivers
Away

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It is not the young people that degenerate they are not spoiled till those of mature age are already sunk into corruption.
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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 Pope] will make the king believe that three are only one, that the bread he eats is not bread... and a thousand other things of the same kind.
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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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Every man who has power is impelled to abuse it.
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...when the laws have ceased to be executed, as this can only come from the corruption of the republic, the state is already lost.
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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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When one wants to change manners and customs, one should not do so by changing the laws.
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Nature is just to all mankind, and repays them for their industry. She renders them industrious by annexing rewards in proportion to their labor.
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I have never known any distress that an hour's reading did not relieve.
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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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In the matter of dress one should always keep below one's ability.
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You have to study a great deal to know a little.
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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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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.
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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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What cowardice it is to be dismayed by the happiness of others and devastated by there good fortune.
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The power of divorce can be given only to those who feel the inconveniences of marriage, and who are sensible of the moment when it is for their interest to make them cease.
Baron de Montesquieu
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The severity of the laws prevents their execution.
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There is no one, says another, whom fortune does not visit once in his life but when she does not find him ready to receive her, she walks in at the door, and flies out at the window.
Baron de Montesquieu