There are countries where a man is worth nothing; there are others where he is worth less than nothing.
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.
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.
...when the laws have ceased to be executed, as this can only come from the corruption of the republic, the state is already lost.
Useless laws weaken the necessary laws.
When a government lasts a long while, it deteriorates by insensible degrees. Republics end through luxury, monarchies through poverty.
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.
For a country, everything will be lost when the jobs of an economist and a banker become highly respected professions.
Liberty... is there only when there is no abuse of power.
Liberty is the right to do what the law permits.
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.
What orators lack in depth they make up for in length.
I like peasants-they are not sophisticated enough to reason speciously.
It is not the young people that degenerate; they are not spoiled till those of mature age are already sunk into corruption.
Liberty itself has appeared intolerable to those nations who have not been accustomed to enjoy it.
A really intelligent man feels what other men only know.
An empire founded by war has to maintain itself by war.
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
It is unreasonable ... to oblige a man not to attempt the defense of his own life.
They who love to inform themselves, are never idle. Though I have no business of consequence to take care of, I am nevertheless continually employed. I spend my life in examining things: I write down in the evening whatever I have remarked, what I have seen, and what I have heard in the day: every thing engages my attention, and every thing excites my wonder: I am like an infant, whose organs, as yet tender, are strongly affected by the slightest objects.
Power should be a check on power.
There is a very good saying that if triangles invented a god, they would make him three-sided.
Wonderful maxim: not to talk of things any more after they are done.
A nation may lose its liberties in a day and not miss them in a century.
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