Quotes by Montesquieu

“I can assure you that no kingdom has ever had as many civil wars as the kingdom of Christ.”

“Useless laws weaken the necessary laws.”

“Democratic and aristocratic states are not in their own nature free. Political liberty is to be found only in moderate governments; and even in these it is not always found. It is there only when t...”

“Every man is capable of doing good to another, but to contribute to the happiness of an entire society is to become akin to the gods”

“In vain do we seek tranquility in the desert; temptations are always with us; our passions, represented by the demons, never let us alone: those monsters created by the heart, those illusions produ...”

“The desire for glory is no different from that instinct for preservation that is common to all creatures. It is as if we enhance our being if we can gain a place in the memory of others; it is a ne...”

“I have never known any distress that an hours reading did not relieve.”

“We receive three educations, one from our parents, one from our school masters, and one from the world. The third contradicts all that the first two teach us.”

“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 th...”

“A nation may lose its liberties in a day and not miss them in a century”

“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.”

“History is full of religious wars; but, we must take care to observe, it was not the multiplicity of religions that produced these wars, it was the intolerating spirit which animated that one which...”

“If triangles had a god, he would have three sides.”

“Virtue has need of limits.”

“A truly virtuous man would come to the aid of the most distant stranger as quickly as to his own friend. If men were perfectly virtuous, they wouldnt have friends.”

“We should weep for men at their birth, not at their death.”

“There should be weeping at a man's birth, not at his death.”

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

“It is not the young people that degenerate they are not spoiled till those of mature age are already sunk into corruption. ”

“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.”