Montesquieu Quotes

We must have constantly present in our minds the difference between independence and liberty. Liberty is a right of doing whatever the laws permit, and if a citizen could do what they forbid he would no longer be possessed of liberty.

To love to read is to exchange hours of ennui for hours of delight.

To become truly great, one has to stand with people, not above them.

There is no one, says another, whom fortune does not visit once in his life; but when she does not find him ready to receive her, she walks in at the door, and flies out at the window.

There is no nation so powerful, as the one that obeys its laws not from principals of fear or reason, but from passion.

There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetuated under the shield of law and in the name of justice.

The tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy is not so dangerous to the public welfare as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy.

The sublimity of administration consists in knowing the proper degree of power that should be exerted on different occasions.

The spirit of moderation should also be the spirit of the lawgiver.

The severity of the laws prevents their execution.

The reason the Romans built their great paved highways was because they had such inconvenient footwear.

Talent is a gift which God has given us secretly, and which we reveal without perceiving it.

Success in the majority of circumstances depends on knowing how long it takes to succeed.

No kingdom has shed more blood than the kingdom of Christ.

Men should be bewailed at their birth, and not at their death.

Friendship is an arrangement by which we undertake to exchange small favors for big ones.

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.

Countries are well cultivated, not as they are fertile, but as they are free.

An author is a fool who, not content with boring those he lives with, insists on boring future generations.

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