It is clear that the monarch who, through bad counsel or negligence, ceases to see that the laws are executed can easily repair the damage: he has only to get a new counsellor, or correct his own negligence. But when, in a popular government, the laws have ceased to be executed, since this can result only from corruption of the republic, the state is already undone.
[Il est clair encore que le monarque qui, par mauvais conseil ou par négligence, cesse de faire exécuter les loix, peut aisément réparer le mal ; il n’a qu’à changer de conseil, ou se corriger de cette négligence même. Mais lorsque, dans un gouvernement populaire, les loix ont cessé d’être exécutées, comme cela ne peut venir que de la corruption de la république, l’état est déja perdu.]
Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 3, ch. 3 (1748) [tr. Stewart (2018)]
More info about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/81324/
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Kelson
in reply to WIST Quotations • • •I remember this quote being a running gag at the WorldCon panel promoting the movie.
It was still in production, and they had a sign up sheet to be an extra in the audience for the sports ball scene they were shooting the following week at Cal State Long Beach.
I read the book between the con and the shoot (mostly - I think I actually brought it with me to finish during downtime) and really found myself wondering what the heck they were doing!
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WIST Quotations
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