Baron de Montesquieu
Christianity stamped its character on jurisprudence; for empire has ever a connection with the priesthood.Collection: Character
Friendship is a contract in which we render small services in expectation of big ones.Collection: Friendship
Certain kinds of foolishness are such that a greater foolishness would be better.Collection: Would Be
A fondness for reading changes the inevitable dull hours of our life into exquisite hours of delight.Collection: Reading
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.Collection: Government
In constitutional states, liberty is compensation for heavy taxes; in dictatorships, the subsititue is light taxes.Collection: Light
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.Collection: Character
Human laws made to direct the will ought to give precepts, and not counsels.Collection: Law
Slowness is frequently the cause of much greater slowness.Collection: Causes
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.Collection: Leadership
Politics are a smooth file, which cuts gradually, and attains its end by slow progression.Collection: Cutting
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.Collection: Thinking
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.Collection: Government
In a republic there is no coercive force as in other governments, the laws must therefore endeavor to supply this defect.Collection: Government
Very good laws may be ill timed.Collection: Law
If triangles had a god, he would have three sides.Collection: God
Vanity and pride of nations; vanity is as advantageous to a government as pride is dangerous.Collection: Pride
Republics come to an end by luxurious habits; monarchies by poverty.Collection: Wisdom
It is difficult for the united states to be all of equal power and extent.Collection: United States
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.Collection: Writing
The laws do not take upon them to punish any other than overt acts.Collection: Law
...when the laws have ceased to be executed, as this can only come from the corruption of the republic, the state is already lost.Collection: Law
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.Collection: Passion
When a government lasts a long while, it deteriorates by insensible degrees. Republics end through luxury, monarchies through poverty.Collection: Luxury
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.Collection: Men
For a country, everything will be lost when the jobs of an economist and a banker become highly respected professions.Collection: Country
Liberty... is there only when there is no abuse of power.Collection: Abuse
Democracy is corrupted not only when the spirit of equality is corrupted, but likewise when they fall into a spirit of extreme equality.Collection: Fall
It is always the adventurous who accomplish great things.Collection: Adventure
I like peasants-they are not sophisticated enough to reason speciously.Collection: Sophisticated
A really intelligent man feels what other men only know.Collection: Intelligent
Liberty itself has appeared intolerable to those nations who have not been accustomed to enjoy it.Collection: Government
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 accidentCollection: Country
They who love to inform themselves, are never idle. Though I have no business of consequence to take care of, I am nevertheless continually employed. I spend my life in examining things: I write down in the evening whatever I have remarked, what I have seen, and what I have heard in the day: every thing engages my attention, and every thing excites my wonder: I am like an infant, whose organs, as yet tender, are strongly affected by the slightest objects.Collection: Writing
Power should be a check on power.Collection: Evil
It is unreasonable ... to oblige a man not to attempt the defense of his own life.Collection: Men
There is a very good saying that if triangles invented a god, they would make him three-sided.Collection: Three
Wonderful maxim: not to talk of things any more after they are done.Collection: Acceptance
Knowledge humanizes mankind, and reason inclines to mildness; but prejudices eradicate every tender disposition.Collection: Prejudice
What unhappy beings men are! They constantly waver between false hopes and silly fears, and instead of relying on reason they create monsters to frighten themselves with, and phantoms which lead them astray.Collection: Fear
Passion makes us feel, but never see clearly.Collection: Passion
[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.Collection: Kings
It is rare to find learned men who are clean, do not stink and have a sense of humour.Collection: Learning
If you run after wit, you will succeed in catching folly.Collection: Running
An injustice to one is a threat made to allCollection: Injustice
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.Collection: Men
The harshest tyranny is that which acts under the protection of legality and the banner of justice.Collection: Justice
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.Collection: Passion
What cowardice it is to be dismayed by the happiness of others and devastated by there good fortune.Collection: Envy