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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
Torrent
Glide
Carried
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Gentle
Rivers
Away
Would
Fain

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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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The spirit of commerce... renders every man willing to live on his own property...& prevents the growth of luxury.
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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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Law in general is human reason, inasmuch as it governs all the inhabitants of the earth: the political and civil laws of each nation ought to be only the particular cases in which human reason is applied.
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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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Laws, in their most general signification, are the necessary relations derived from the nature of things.
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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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Political liberty is to be found only in moderate governments.
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Laws undertake to punish only overt acts.
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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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An injustice committed against anyone is a threat to everyone.
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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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The prejudices of superstition are superior to all others, and have the strongest influence on the human mind.
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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.
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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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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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There are countries where a man is worth nothing there are others where he is worth less than nothing.
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Political liberty in a citizen is that tranquillity of spirit which comes from the opinion each one has of his security, and in order for him to have this liberty the government must be such that one citizen cannot fear another citizen.
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When a government lasts a long while, it deteriorates by insensible degrees. Republics end through luxury, monarchies through poverty.
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No kingdom has shed more blood than the kingdom of Christ.
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