“In a free nation, it matters not whether individuals reason well or ill; it is sufficient that they do reason. Truth arises from the collision and from hence springs liberty, which is a security from the effects of reasoning.”

— Montesquieu

Quoted by Thomas Erskine in the trial of Thomas Paine, 1792

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Montesquieu 34

French social commentator and political thinker 1689–1755

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