The state dictates and coerces; religion teaches and persuades. The state enacts laws; religion gives commandments. The state is armed with physical force and makes use of it if need be; the force of religion is love and benevolence.
Moses MendelssohnSocrates didn't care to visit the theater, as a rule, except when the plays of Euripides (which some think, he himself had helped to compose), were performed.
Moses MendelssohnThe state has physical power and uses it when necessary; the power of religion is love and beneficence
Moses Mendelssohn