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Honor sets all the parts of the body politic in motion, and by its very action connects them thus each individual advances the public good, while he only thinks of promoting his own interest.

Baron de Montesquieu

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Baron de Montesquieu
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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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When the body of the people is possessed of the supreme power, it is called a democracy.
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Luxury ruins republics poverty, monarchies.
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I have read descriptions of Paradise that would make any sensible person stop wanting to go there.
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Honor is unknown in despotic states.
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At our coming into the world we contract an immense debt to our country, which we can never discharge.
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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
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Society is the union of men and not the men themselves.
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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 less men think, the more they talk.
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The false notion of miracles comes of our vanity, which makes us believe we are important enough for the Supreme Being to upset nature on our behalf.
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A nation may lose its liberties in a day and not miss them in a century.
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We must have constantly present in our minds the difference between independence and liberty. Liberty is a right of doing whatever the laws permit, and if a citizen could do what they forbid he would no longer be possessed of liberty.
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Better it is to say that the government most comfortable to nature is that which best agrees with the humor and disposition of the people in whose favor it is established.
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The state is the association of men, and not men themselves the citizen may perish, and the man remain.
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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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Fain would I glide down a gentle river, but I am carried away by a torrent.
Baron de Montesquieu
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It is necessary from the very nature of things that power should be a check to power.
Baron de Montesquieu
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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
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A fondness for reading changes the inevitable dull hours of our life into exquisite hours of delight.
Baron de Montesquieu