I have never known any distress that an hour's reading did not relieve.
Baron De MontesquieuRead
The mood and temper of the public in regard to the treatment of crime and criminals is one of the most unfailing tests of the civilisation of any country.
Interpretation
This quote highlights that the way a society treats crime and criminals reflects its level of civilization.
Baron De Montesquieu suggests that a country's civilization can be gauged by its public sentiment towards crime and the treatment of criminals. He implies that the prevailing mood and attitude of society towards justice and punishment indicate the moral and ethical standards upheld within that society. Thus, a compassionate response to crime signifies a more advanced civilization, while harsh and unjust treatment may reflect a degradation of societal values.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about criminal justice reform.
I have never known any distress that an hour's reading did not relieve.
Law in general is human reason, inasmuch as it governs all the inhabitants of the earth: the political and civil laws of each nation ought to be only the particular cases in which human reason is applied.
To become truly great, one has to stand with people, not above them.
Love of the republic in a democracy, is a love of the democracy; love of the democracy is that of equality. Love of the democracy is likewise that of frugality.
It is not the young people that degenerate; they are not spoiled till those of mature age are already sunk into corruption.
If you would be holy, instruct your children, because all the good acts they perform will be imputed to you.
Contemporary moral philosophy has found an original way of being boring, which is by not discussing moral issues at all.
If this glorious birth to death hassle is the only hassle we are ever to have ..if our grand exhilarating fight of life is such a tragically short little scrap anyway,compared to the eons of rounds before and after-then why should one want to relinquish even a few precious seconds of it?
The great events of life often leave one unmoved; they pass out of consciousness, and, when thinks of them, become unreal. Even the scarlet flowers of passion seem to grow in the same meadow as the poppies of oblivion. We reject the burden of their memory, and have anodynes against them. But the little things, the things of no moment, remain with us. In some tiny ivory cell the brain stores the most delicate, and the most fleeting impressions.
Maybe the more emotions a person experiences in their daily lives, the longer time seems to feel to them. As you get older, you experience fewer new things, and so time seems to go by faster.
It's funny, our beauty standard has become harder and tougher because we live in a tough age. I don't think anyone wants to walk down the street and feel vulnerable. You want to walk down the street and feel like you're in control.
The South is very beautiful but its beauty makes one sad because the lives that people live here, and have lived here, are so ugly.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.