Famous Montesquieu Quotations

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"If one only wished to be happy, this could be easily accomplished; but we wish to be happier that other people, and this is always difficult, for we believe others to be happier than they are."
by Montesquieu
"An author is a fool who, not content with boring those he lives with, insists on boring future generations."
by Charles de Montesquieu
"Author A fool who, not content with having bored those who have lived with him, insists on tormenting generations to come."
by Montesquieu
"In the state of nature...all men are born equal, but they cannot continue in this equality. Society makes them lose it, and they recover it only by the protection of the law."
by Charles de Montesquieu
"It is not the young people that degenerate they are not spoiled till those of mature age are already sunk into corruption."
by Baron de la Brede et de Montesquieu
"The incomparable stupidity of life teaches us to love our parents divine philosophy teaches us to forgive them."
by Baron de la Brede et de Montesquieu
"The love of democracy is that of equality."
by Charles de Montesquieu
"There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of law and in the name of justice."
by Montesquieu
"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."
by Montesquieu
"We should weep for men at their birth, not at their death."
by Charles Montesquieu
"Friendship is an arrangement by which we undertake to exchange small favors for big ones."
by Charles Montesquieu
"If triangles made a god, they would give him three sides."
by Charles Montesquieu
"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."
by Charles Montesquieu
"The spirit of moderation should also be the spirit of the lawgiver."
by Charles Montesquieu
"The severity of the laws prevents their execution."
by Charles Montesquieu
"Useless laws weaken the necessary laws."
by Charles Montesquieu
"There is no nation so powerful, as the one that obeys its laws not from principals of fear or reason, but from passion."
by Charles Montesquieu
"I have always observed that to succeed in the world a person must seem simple, yet wise."
by Charles Montesquieu
"What orators lack in depth, they make up to you in length."
by Charles Montesquieu
"This is how I define talent; it is a gift that God has given us in secret, which we reveal without knowing it."
by Charles Montesquieu
"Success in the majority of circumstances depends on knowing how long it takes to succeed."
by Charles Montesquieu
"Luxury ruins republics; poverty, monarchies."
by Charles Montesquieu


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