It is not the young people that degenerate; they are not spoiled till those of mature age are already sunk into corruption.
When the savages of Louisiana wish to have fruit, they cut the tree at the bottom and gather the fruit. That is exactly a despotic government.
The tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy is not so dangerous to the public welfare as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy.
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
...when the laws have ceased to be executed, as this can only come from the corruption of the republic, the state is already lost.
No tyranny is more cruel than the one practised in the shadow of the laws and under color of justice - when, so to speak, one proceeds to drown the unfortunate on the very plank by which they had saved themselves. And since a tyrant never lacks instruments for his tyranny, Tiberius always found judges ready to condemn as many people as he might suspect.
Liberty is the right to do what the law permits.
The law of nations is naturally founded on this principle, that different nations ought in time of peace to do one another all the good they can, and in time of war as little injury as possible, without prejudicing their real interests.
Liberty... is there only when there is no abuse of power.
This punishment of death is the remedy, as it were, of a sick society.
There are bad examples which are worse than crimes; and more states have perished from the violation of morality than from the violation of law.
When a government lasts a long while, it deteriorates by insensible degrees. Republics end through luxury, monarchies through poverty.
Life was given to me as a favor, so I may abandon it when it is one no longer.
Europe is a state with several provinces
For a country, everything will be lost when the jobs of an economist and a banker become highly respected professions.
The majority of men are more capable of great actions than of good ones.
Vitam Impendere Vero (I consecrate my life to truth).
The alms given to a naked man in the street do not fulfil the obligations of the state, which owes to every citizen a certain subsistence, a proper nourishment, convenient clothing, and a kind of life not incompatible with health.
In republican governments, men are all equal; equal they are also in despotic governments: in the former, because they are everything; in the latter, because they are nothing.
Democracy is corrupted not only when the spirit of equality is corrupted, but likewise when they fall into a spirit of extreme equality.
It is always the adventurous who accomplish great things.
A nation may lose its liberties in a day and not miss them in a century.
It is unreasonable ... to oblige a man not to attempt the defense of his own life.
There is a very good saying that if triangles invented a god, they would make him three-sided.
Trade is the best cure for prejudice.
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