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The life of man is but a succession of vain hopes and groundless fears.

Baron de Montesquieu

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Baron de Montesquieu
Groundless
Succession
Hopes
Fears
Vain
Men
Life

More quotes by Baron de Montesquieu

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Slowness is frequently the cause of much greater slowness.
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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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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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Republics end through luxury monarchies through poverty.
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Law should be like death, which spares no one.
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You have to study a great deal to know a little.
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The severity of the laws prevents their execution.
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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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There should be weeping at a man's birth, not at his death.
Baron de Montesquieu
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There is a very good saying that if triangles invented a god, they would make him three-sided.
Baron de Montesquieu
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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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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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The less luxury there is in a republic, the more it is perfect.
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When a government lasts a long while, it deteriorates by insensible degrees. Republics end through luxury, monarchies through poverty.
Baron de Montesquieu
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What cowardice it is to be dismayed by the happiness of others and devastated by there good fortune.
Baron de Montesquieu
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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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To become truly great, one has to stand with people, not above them.
Baron de Montesquieu
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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.
Baron de Montesquieu
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The public business must be carried on with a certain motion, neither too quick nor too slow.
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.
Baron de Montesquieu