Baron De Montesquieu Quotes & Sayings

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

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

Coffee renders many foolish people temporarily capable of wise actions — 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

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 majority of men are more capable of great actions than of good ones. — Baron De Montesquieu

It is unreasonable ... to oblige a man not to attempt the defense of his own life. — 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

There is still another inconvenieney in conquests made by democracies; their government is ever odious to the conquered states. It is apparently monarchical, but in reality it is more oppressive than monarchy, as the experience of all ages and countries evinces. — Baron De Montesquieu

The laws do not take upon them to punish any other than overt acts. — Baron De Montesquieu

No tyranny is more cruel than the one practised in the shadow of the laws and under color of justice - when, so to speak, one proceeds to drown the unfortunate on the very plank by which they had saved themselves. And since a tyrant never lacks instruments for his tyranny, Tiberius always found judges ready to condemn as many people as he might suspect. — Baron De Montesquieu

Christianity stamped its character on jurisprudence; for empire has ever a connection with the priesthood. — 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

The love of democracy is that of equality. — Baron De Montesquieu

Vanity is as advantageous to a government as pride is dangerous. To be convinced of this we need only represent, on the one hand,the numberless benefits which result from vanity, as industry, the arts, fashions, politeness, and taste; and on the other, the infinite evils which spring from the pride of certain nations, a laziness, poverty, a total neglect of everything. — Baron De Montesquieu

The crime against nature will never make any great progress in society unless people are prompted to it by some particular custom. — Baron De Montesquieu

It is always the adventurous who accomplish great things. — Baron De Montesquieu

Politics are a smooth file, which cuts gradually, and attains its end by slow progression. — Baron De Montesquieu

In constitutional states, liberty is compensation for heavy taxes; in dictatorships, the subsititue is light taxes. — Baron De Montesquieu

The deterioration of every government begins with the decay of the principles on which it was founded. — Baron De Montesquieu

It is rare to find learned men who are clean, do not stink and have a sense of humour. — Baron De Montesquieu

Every man who has power is impelled to abuse it. — Baron De Montesquieu

The less luxury there is in a republic, the more it is perfect. — Baron De Montesquieu

I should like to abolish funerals; the time to mourn a person is at his birth, not his death. — Baron De Montesquieu

If triangles had a god, he would have three sides. — Baron De Montesquieu

When one wants to change manners and customs, one should not do so by changing the laws. — Baron De Montesquieu

In the matter of dress one should always keep below one's ability. — Baron De Montesquieu

In the birth of societies it is the chiefs of states who give it its special character; and afterward it is this special character that forms the chiefs of state. — Baron De Montesquieu

At our coming into the world we contract an immense debt to our country, which we can never discharge. — Baron De Montesquieu

Political liberty in a citizen is that tranquillity of spirit which comes from the opinion each one has of his security, and in order for him to have this liberty the government must be such that one citizen cannot fear another citizen. — Baron De Montesquieu

I like peasants-they are not sophisticated enough to reason speciously. — Baron De Montesquieu

A good writer does not write as people write, but as he writes. — Baron De Montesquieu

I suffer from the disease of writing books and being ashamed of them when they are finished. — Baron De Montesquieu

The wickedness of mankind makes it necessary for the law to suppose them better than they really are. — Baron De Montesquieu

The spirit of commerce is frugality, economy, moderation, labor, ponderance, tranquillity, order, and rule. So long as this spirit subsides, the riches it produces have no bad effect. The mischief is when excessive wealth destroys the spirit of commerce, then it is that the conveniences of inequality ... are felt. — Baron De Montesquieu

It is difficult for the united states to be all of equal power and extent. — Baron De Montesquieu

The alms given to a naked man in the street do not fulfil the obligations of the state, which owes to every citizen a certain subsistence, a proper nourishment, convenient clothing, and a kind of life not incompatible with health. — Baron De Montesquieu

The harshest tyranny is that which acts under the protection of legality and the banner of justice. — Baron De Montesquieu

If I knew something that would serve my country but would harm mankind, I would never reveal it; for I am a citizen of humanity first and by necessity, and a citizen of France second, and only by accident — Baron De Montesquieu

Power should be a check on power. — Baron De Montesquieu

There is hardly any grief that an hour's reading will not dissipate. — Baron De Montesquieu

Man is a social animal formed to please in society. — Baron De Montesquieu

If you run after wit, you will succeed in catching folly. — Baron De Montesquieu

To succeed in the world we must look foolish but be wise. — Baron De Montesquieu

An injustice to one is a threat made to all — Baron De Montesquieu

Europe is a state with several provinces — 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

Great commanders write their actions with simplicity; because they receive more glory from facts than from words. — Baron De Montesquieu

This punishment of death is the remedy, as it were, of a sick society. — Baron De Montesquieu

Virtue has needs of limits. — Baron De Montesquieu

The love of study is in us the only lasting passion. All the others quit us in proportion as this miserable machine which holds them approaches its ruins. — 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

Liberty ... is there only when there is no abuse of power. — Baron De Montesquieu

Laws, in their most general signification, are the necessary relations arising from the nature of things. In this sense all beings have their laws: the Deity His laws, the material world its laws, the intelligences superior to man their laws, the beasts their laws, man his laws. — Baron De Montesquieu

Ever since the invention of gunpowder.. I continually tremble lest men should, in the end, uncover some secret which would provide a short way of abolishing mankind, of annihilating peoples and nations in their entirety. — Baron De Montesquieu

Slowness is frequently the cause of much greater slowness. — Baron De Montesquieu

To lend money without interest, is certainly an action laudable and extremely good; but it is obvious, that it is only a counsel of religion, and not a civil law. — Baron De Montesquieu

The English are busy folk; they have no time in which to be polite. — Baron De Montesquieu

Certain kinds of foolishness are such that a greater foolishness would be better. — Baron De Montesquieu

A rational army would run away. — Baron De Montesquieu

The culminating point of administration is to know well how much power, great or small, we ought to use in all circumstances. — Baron De Montesquieu

Law should be like death, which spares no one. — 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

Wonderful maxim: not to talk of things any more after they are done. — Baron De Montesquieu

The coffee is prepared in such a way that it makes those who drink it witty: at least there is not a single soul who, on quitting the house, does not believe himself four times wittier that when he entered it. — 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

The public business must be carried on with a certain motion, neither too quick nor too slow. — Baron De Montesquieu

Oh, how empty is praise when it reflects back to its origin! — Baron De Montesquieu

Virtue in a republic is the love of one's country, that is the love of equality. — Baron De Montesquieu

Brutes are deprived of the high advantages which we have; but they have some which we have not. They have not our hopes, but theyare without our fears; they are subject like us to death, but without knowing it; even most of them are more attentive than we to self-preservation, and do not make so bad a use of their passions. — Baron De Montesquieu

We ought to be very cautious in the prosecution of magic and heresy. The attempt to put down these two crimes may be extremely perilous to liberty, and may be the origin of a number of petty acts of tyranny if the legislator be not on his guard; for as such an accusation does not bear directly on the overt acts of a citizen, but refers to the idea we entertain of his character. — 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

The prejudices of superstition are superior to all others, and have the strongest influence on the human mind. — Baron De Montesquieu

Each citizen contributes to the revenues of the State a portion of his property in order that his tenure of the rest may be secure. — Baron De Montesquieu

When the savages of Louisiana wish to have fruit, they cut the tree at the bottom and gather the fruit. That is exactly a despotic government. — Baron De Montesquieu

I shall ever repeat it, that mankind are governed not by extremes, but by principals of moderation. — 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

I shall be obliged to wander to the right and to the left, that I may investigate and discover the truth. — Baron De Montesquieu

There are countries where a man is worth nothing; there are others where he is worth less than nothing. — Baron De Montesquieu

Better it is to say that the government most comfortable to nature is that which best agrees with the humor and disposition of the people in whose favor it is established. — Baron De 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 power of divorce can be given only to those who feel the inconveniences of marriage, and who are sensible of the moment when it is for their interest to make them cease. — Baron De Montesquieu

Political liberty is to be found only in moderate governments. — Baron De Montesquieu

The mood and temper of the public in regard to the treatment of crime and criminals is one of the most unfailing tests of the civilisation of any country. — Baron De Montesquieu

Vanity and pride of nations; vanity is as advantageous to a government as pride is dangerous. — Baron De Montesquieu

The spirit of commerce ... renders every man willing to live on his own property ... & prevents the growth of luxury. — Baron De Montesquieu

We ought to be very cautious and circumspect in the prosecution of magic and heresy. The attempt to put down these two crimes may be extremely perilous to liberty. — Baron De Montesquieu

A prince who loves and fears religion is a lion who stoops to the hand that strokes or to the voice that appeases him. He who fears and hates religion is like the savage beast that growls and bites the chain, which prevents his flying on the passenger. He who has no religion at all is that terrible animal who perceives his liberty only when he tears in pieces, and when he devours. — Baron De Montesquieu

Trade is the best cure for prejudice. — Baron De Montesquieu

Honor sets all the parts of the body politic in motion, and by its very action connects them; thus each individual advances the public good, while he only thinks of promoting his own interest. — Baron De Montesquieu

The pagan religion, which prohibited only some of the grosser crimes, and which stopped the hand but meddled not with the heart, might have crimes that were inexplicable. — Baron De Montesquieu

In every government there are three sorts of power: the legislative; the executive in respect to things dependent on the law of nations; and the executive in regard to matters that depend on the civil law. — Baron De Montesquieu

Men in excess of happiness or misery are equally inclined to severity. Witness conquerors and monks! It is mediocrity alone, and a mixture of prosperous and adverse fortune that inspire us with lenity and pity. — Baron De Montesquieu

The incomparable stupidity of life teaches us to love our parents; divine philosophy teaches us to forgive them. — Baron De Montesquieu

I never listen to calumnies, because if they are untrue I run the risk of being deceived, and if they be true, of hating persons not worth thinking about. — Baron De Montesquieu

The state is the association of men, and not men themselves; the citizen may perish, and the man remain. — Baron De Montesquieu

Countries are not cultivated in proportion to their fertility, but to their liberty. — Baron De Montesquieu

In republican governments, men are all equal; equal they are also in despotic governments: in the former, because they are everything; in the latter, because they are nothing. — 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

Fain would I glide down a gentle river, but I am carried away by a torrent. — Baron De Montesquieu