We receive three educations, one from our parents, one from our school masters, and one from the world. The third contradicts all that the first two … - Montesquieu

I have read descriptions of Paradise that would make any sensible person stop wanting to go there.

It is possible that the law, which is clear sighted in one sense, and blind in another,
might, in some cases, be too severe. But as we have already observed, the national judges are no more than the mouth that pronounces the words of the law, mere passive beings, incapable of moderating either its force or rigor. That part, therefore, of the legislative body, which we have just now observed to be a necessary tribunal on another occasion, also is a necessary tribunal in this; it belongs to its supreme authority to moderate the law in favor of the law itself, by mitigating the sentence.

Ces monarques sont comme le soleil, qui porte partout la chaleur et la vie.