Charles de Montesquieu Quotes
Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, also known as Charles de Montesquieu, was a French political thinker who lived during the Enlightenment and is famous for his articulation of the theory of separation of powers.
(1689 - 1755)
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A man should be mourned at his birth, not at his death.
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A nation may lose its liberties in a day, and not miss them in a century.
[Liberty]
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Although born in a prosperous realm, we did not believe that its boundaries should limit our knowledge, and that the lore of the East should alone enlighten us.
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An author is a fool who, not content with boring those he lives with, insists on boring future generations.
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An empire founded by war has to maintain itself by war.
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As soon as man enters into a state of society he loses the sense of his weakness; equality ceases, and then commences the state of war.
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As the general rule in constitutional states liberty is a compensation for the heaviness of taxation, and in despotic states the equivalent for liberty is the lightness of taxation.
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As virtue is necessary in a republic, and honor in a monarchy, fear is what is required in a despotism. - As for virtue, it is not at all necessary, and honor would be dangerous there.
[Despotism]
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Author: A fool who, not content with having bored those who have lived with him, insists on tormenting generations to come.
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But constant experience shows us that every man invested with power is apt to abuse it, and to carry his authority as far as it will go.
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Countries are well cultivated, not as they are fertile, but as they are free.
[Freedom]
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Do you think that God will punish them for not practicing a religion which he did not reveal to them?
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Each particular society begins to feel its strength, whence arises a state of war between different nations.
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False happiness renders men stern and proud, and that happiness is never communicated. True happiness renders them kind and sensible, and that happiness is always shared.
[Happiness]
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Friendship is an arrangement by which we undertake to exchange small favors for big ones.
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Happy the people whose annals are tiresome.
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I have always observed that to succeed in the world one should appear like a fool but be wise.
[Success]
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I have ever held it a maxim, never to do through another what it was possible for me to do myself.
[Self Reliance]
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I have never known any distress that an hour's reading did not relieve.
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I have read descriptions of Paradise that would make any sensible person stop wanting to go there.
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