Montesquieu Quotes
Collection of top 100 famous quotes about Montesquieu
Montesquieu Quotes & Sayings
Happy to read and share the best inspirational Montesquieu quotes, sayings and quotations on Wise Famous Quotes.
Liberty is the right to do what the law permits.
— Charles De Montesquieu
[The Pope] will make the king believe that three are only one, that the bread he eats is not bread ... and a thousand other things of the same kind.
— Baron De Montesquieu
Love of reading enables a man to exchange the weary hours, which come to every one, for hours of delight.
— Baron De Montesquieu
A rational army would run away.
— Baron De Montesquieu
The lively phraseology of Montesquieu was the result of long meditation. His words, as light as wings, bear on them grave reflections.
— Joseph Joubert
I have ever held it as a maxim never to do that through another which it was impossible for me to execute myself
— Baron De Montesquieu
The Ottoman Empire whose sick body was not supported by a mild and regular diet, but by a powerful treatment, which continually exhausted it.
— Baron De Montesquieu
A good writer does not write as people write, but as he writes.
— Baron De Montesquieu
Virtue is necessary to a republic.
— Baron De Montesquieu
When a government is arrived to that degree of corruption as to be incapable of reforming itself, it would not lose much by being new moulded.
— Baron De Montesquieu
There is something in animals beside the power of motion. They are not machines; they feel.
— Baron De Montesquieu
As men are affected in all ages by the same passions, the occasions which bring about great changes are different, but the causes are always the same.
— Baron De Montesquieu
The incomparable stupidity of life teaches us to love our parents; divine philosophy teaches us to forgive them.
— Baron De Montesquieu
To love to read is to exchange hours of ennui for hours of delight.
— Charles De Montesquieu
The spirit of moderation should also be the spirit of the lawgiver.
— Charles De Montesquieu
Republics come to an end by luxurious habits; monarchies by poverty.
— Baron De Montesquieu
Trade is the best cure for prejudice.
— Baron De Montesquieu
The public business must be carried on with a certain motion, neither too quick nor too slow.
— Baron De Montesquieu
Talent is a gift which God has given us secretly, and which we reveal without perceiving it.
— Montesquieu
Men should be bewailed at their birth, and not at their death.
— Charles De Montesquieu
Virtue in a republic is the love of one's country, that is the love of equality.
— Baron De Montesquieu
There is as yet no liberty if the power of judging be not separated from legislative power and the executrix
— Baron De Montesquieu
Power should be a check on power.
— Baron De Montesquieu
It is not the young people that degenerate; they are not spoiled till those of maturer age are already sunk into corruption.
— Montesquieu
There are bad examples which are worse than crimes; and more states have perished from the violation of morality than from the violation of law.
— Baron De Montesquieu
The English are busy folk; they have no time in which to be polite.
— Baron De Montesquieu
Fain would I glide down a gentle river, but I am carried away by a torrent.
— Baron De Montesquieu
The prejudices of superstition are superior to all others, and have the strongest influence on the human mind.
— Baron De Montesquieu
A man who writes well writes not as others write, but as he himself writes; it is often in speaking badly that he speaks well.
— Baron De Montesquieu
Countries are not cultivated in proportion to their fertility, but to their liberty.
— Baron De Montesquieu
A conqueror, I say, can change the course of everything, and muffled tyranny is the first thing which is liable to violence.
— Montesquieu
I should like to abolish funerals; the time to mourn a person is at his birth, not his death.
— Baron De Montesquieu
Democracy is corrupted not only when the spirit of equality is corrupted, but likewise when they fall into a spirit of extreme equality.
— Baron De Montesquieu
Happy the people whose annals are boring to read.
— Charles-Louis De Secondat, Baron De La Brede Et De Montesquieu
It is necessary from the very nature of things that power should be a check to power.
— Baron De Montesquieu
Political liberty is to be found only in moderate governments.
— Baron De Montesquieu
To become truly great, one has to stand with people, not above them.
— Charles De Montesquieu
The severity of the laws prevents their execution.
— Charles De Montesquieu
The state is the association of men, and not men themselves; the citizen may perish, and the man remain.
— Baron De Montesquieu
That anyone who possesses power has a tendency to abuse it is an eternal truth. They tend to go as far as the barriers will allow.
— Baron De Montesquieu
There is no greater tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of the law and in the name of justice.
— Montesquieu
Wonderful maxim: not to talk of things any more after they are done.
— Baron De Montesquieu
There have never been so many civil wars as in the Kingdom of Christ.
— Baron De Montesquieu
The love of democracy is that of equality.
— Baron De Montesquieu
Friendship is an arrangement by which we undertake to exchange small favors for big ones.
— Charles De Montesquieu
The less luxury there is in a republic, the more it is perfect.
— Baron De Montesquieu
Oh, how empty is praise when it reflects back to its origin!
— Baron De Montesquieu
Vitam Impendere Vero (I consecrate my life to truth).
— Baron De Montesquieu
Do you think that God will punish them for not practicing a religion which he did not reveal to them?
— Montesquieu
Slowness is frequently the cause of much greater slowness.
— Baron De Montesquieu
When virtue is banished, ambition invades the minds of those who are disposed to receive it and avarice possesses the whole community.
— Baron De Montesquieu
Nature is just to all mankind, and repays them for their industry. She renders them industrious by annexing rewards in proportion to their labor.
— Baron De Montesquieu
If you would be holy, instruct your children, because all the good acts they perform will be imputed to you.
— Baron De Montesquieu
Solemnity is the shield of idiots
— Montesquieu
If you run after wit, you will succeed in catching folly.
— Baron De Montesquieu
An injustice committed against anyone is a threat to everyone.
— Baron De Montesquieu
An author is a fool who, not content with boring those he lives with, insists on boring future generations.
— Montesquieu
An empire founded by war has to maintain itself by war.
— Charles De Montesquieu
A really intelligent man feels what other men only know.
— Baron De Montesquieu
Republics are brought to their ends by luxury; monarchies by poverty.
— Baron De Montesquieu
When God endowed human beings with brains, He did not intend to guarantee them.
— Baron De Montesquieu
Europe is a state with several provinces
— Baron De Montesquieu
The less men think, the more they talk.
— Charles De Montesquieu
A nation may lose its liberties in a day and not miss them in a century.
— Charles De Montesquieu
Montesquieu had the style of a genius; Buffon, the genius of style.
— Friedrich Melchior, Baron Von Grimm
There is no nation so powerful, as the one that obeys its laws not from principals of fear or reason, but from passion.
— Charles De Montesquieu
Passion makes us feel, but never see clearly.
— Baron De Montesquieu
We should weep for men at their birth, not at their death.
— Charles De Montesquieu
When one wants to change manners and customs, one should not do so by changing the laws.
— Baron De Montesquieu
What cowardice it is to be dismayed by the happiness of others and devastated by there good fortune.
— Baron De Montesquieu
Lunch kills half of Paris, supper the other half.
— Charles De Montesquieu
Great commanders write their actions with simplicity; because they receive more glory from facts than from words.
— Baron De Montesquieu
Vanity and pride of nations; vanity is as advantageous to a government as pride is dangerous.
— Baron De Montesquieu
An injustice to one is a threat made to all
— Baron De Montesquieu
In most things success depends on knowing how long it takes to succeed.
— Charles De Montesquieu
There should be weeping at a man's birth, not at his death.
— Charles De Montesquieu
Every man who has power is impelled to abuse it.
— Baron De Montesquieu
Friendship is a contract in which we render small services in expectation of big ones.
— Baron De Montesquieu
Liberty itself has appeared intolerable to those nations who have not been accustomed to enjoy it.
— Baron De Montesquieu
It is requisite the government be so constituted as one man need not be afraid of another.
— Baron De Montesquieu
The English are busy; they don't have time to be polite.
— Baron De Montesquieu
It is unreasonable ... to oblige a man not to attempt the defense of his own life.
— Baron De Montesquieu
The majority of men are more capable of great actions than of good ones.
— Baron De Montesquieu
No kingdom has shed more blood than the kingdom of Christ.
— Charles De Montesquieu
Useless laws weaken the necessary laws.
— Montesquieu
Coffee renders many foolish people temporarily capable of wise actions
— Baron De Montesquieu
In the matter of dress one should always keep below one's ability.
— Baron De Montesquieu
Virtue has needs of limits.
— Baron De Montesquieu
In a republic there is no coercive force as in other governments, the laws must therefore endeavor to supply this defect.
— Baron De Montesquieu
I shall ever repeat it, that mankind are governed not by extremes, but by principals of moderation.
— Baron De Montesquieu
I suffer from the disease of writing books and being ashamed of them when they are finished.
— Baron De Montesquieu
This punishment of death is the remedy, as it were, of a sick society.
— Baron De Montesquieu