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Men, who are rogues individually, are in the mass very honorable people.

— Montesquieu

Les hommes, fripons en détail, sont en gros de très-honnêtes gens.

Original text (French)

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More quotes by Montesquieu

People here argue about religion interminably, but it appears that they are competing at the same time to see who can be the least devout.

Lettres Persanes (1721)

Useless laws weaken the necessary laws.

The Spirit of the Laws (1748)

One must give one power a ballast, so to speak, to put it in a position to resist another.

The Spirit of the Laws (1748)

Constant experience shows us that every man who has power is inclined to abuse it; he goes until he finds limits.

Society is the union of men and not the men themselves.

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Montesquieu (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.