Every actual state is corrupt, and good people must not obey the laws too well

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• Bad people need only that good people look on and do nothing; someone who lets wrong be done in their name without protest is not good JMJohn Stuart Mill1 Feb 1867
• It seems most people have the sense to make laws, but not all are just enough to make good ones VOVoltairec. 1752–1774
• A prince who can do as he pleases is a madman, and an unrestrained people is never wise NMNiccolò Machiavellic. 1514–1519
• Society is always a blessing, but government is at best a necessary evil and at worst an intolerable one TPThomas Paine14 Feb 1776
• The State's institutions are human expedients, not superior to citizens, and can be bettered RERalph Waldo Emersonc. 1844

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