Baron de Montesquieu Quotes and Sayings - Page 1
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“A nation may lose its liberties in a day and not miss them in a century.”
-- Baron de Montesquieu -
“The success of most things depends upon knowing how long it will take to succeed.”
-- Baron de Montesquieu -
“Men, who are rogues individually, are in the mass very honorable people.”
-- Baron de Montesquieu -
“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.”
-- Baron de Montesquieu -
“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.”
-- Baron de Montesquieu -
“When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person, or in the same body of magistrates, there can be no liberty; because apprehensions may arise, lest the same monarch or senate should enact tyrannical laws, to execute them in a tyrannical manner.”
-- Baron de Montesquieu -
“The harshest tyranny is that which acts under the protection of legality and the banner of justice.”
-- 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 -
“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 -
“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 produced by the mind, those vain specters that are our errors and our lies always appear before us to seduce us; they attack us even in our fasting or our mortifications, in other words, in our very strength.”
-- 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 -
“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.”
-- Baron de Montesquieu -
“Slavery, properly so called, is the establishment of a right which gives to one man such a power over another as renders him absolute master of his life and fortune.”
-- Baron de Montesquieu -
“The state of slavery is in its own nature bad.”
-- Baron de Montesquieu -
“Europe is a state with several provinces”
-- Baron de Montesquieu -
“The law of nations is naturally founded on this principle, that different nations ought in time of peace to do one another all the good they can, and in time of war as little injury as possible, without prejudicing their real interests.”
-- Baron de Montesquieu -
“Each particular society begins to feel its strength, whence arises a state of war between different nations.”
-- Baron de Montesquieu -
“People here argue about religion interminably, but it appears that they are competing at the same time to see who can be the least devout.”
-- Baron de Montesquieu -
“Raillery is a mode of speaking in favor of one's wit at the expense of one's better nature.”
-- Baron de Montesquieu -
“The deterioration of every government begins with the decay of the principles on which it was founded.”
-- Baron de Montesquieu -
“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.”
-- Baron de Montesquieu -
“With truths of a certain kind, it is not enough to make them appear convincing: one must also make them felt. Of such kind are moral truths.”
-- Baron de Montesquieu -
“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.”
-- Baron de Montesquieu -
“An empire founded by war has to maintain itself by war.”
-- Baron de Montesquieu -
“There are three species of government: republican, monarchical, and despotic.”
-- Baron de Montesquieu -
“When the body of the people is possessed of the supreme power, it is called a democracy.”
-- Baron de Montesquieu -
“Power ought to serve as a check to power.”
-- 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 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 -
“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
