QUOTES

65 Montesquieu Quotes On Success In Life

Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French judge, man of letters, and political philosopher. These Montesquieu quotes will motivate you.

Best Montesquieu Quotes

  1. “There is no greater tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of the law and in the name of justice.”~Montesquieu
  2. “To become truly great, one has to stand with people, not above them.”~Montesquieu
  3. “I have always observed that to succeed in the world one should seem a fool, but be wise.”~Montesquieu
  4. “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.”~Montesquieu
  5. “There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetuated under the shield of law and in the name of justice.”~Montesquieu
  6. “Power ought to serve as a check to power.”~Montesquieu

  7. “The less men think, the more they talk.”~Montesquieu
  8. “If we only wanted to be happy, it would be easy; but we want to be happier than other people, and that is almost always difficult, since we think them happier than they are.”~Montesquieu
  9. “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.”~Montesquieu
  10. “If triangles had a god, they would give him three sides.”~Montesquieu
  11. “But constant experience shows us that every man invested with power is apt to abuse it, and to carry his authority as far as it will go.”~Montesquieu
  12. “Useless laws weaken the necessary laws.”~Montesquieu
  13. “Liberty is the right to do what the law permits.”~Montesquieu

  14. “No kingdom has shed more blood than the kingdom of Christ.”~Montesquieu
  15. “The deterioration of a government begins almost always by the decay of its principles.”~Montesquieu
  16. “I have always observed that to succeed in the world one should appear like a fool but be wise.”~Montesquieu
  17. “A nation may lose its liberties in a day and not miss them in a century.”~Montesquieu
  18. “It is not the young people that degenerate; they are not spoiled till those of mature age are already sunk into corruption.”~Montesquieu
  19. An empire founded by war has to maintain itself by war.”~Montesquieu

  20. “Society is the union of men and not the men themselves.”~Montesquieu
  21. “I have never known any distress that an hour’s reading did not relieve.”~Montesquieu
  22. “Religious wars are not caused by the fact that there is more than one religion, but by the spirit of intolerance… the spread of which can only be regarded as the total eclipse of human reason.”~Montesquieu
  23. “Liberty is the right of doing whatever the laws permit.”~Montesquieu
  24. “We should weep for men at their birth, not at their death.”~Montesquieu
  25. “In the infancy of societies, the chiefs of state shape its institutions; later the institutions shape the chiefs of state.”~Montesquieu
  26. “As soon as man enters into a state of society he loses the sense of his weakness; equality ceases, and then commences the state of war.” ~Montesquieu
  27. “You have to study a great deal to know a little.”~Montesquieu

  28. “There are three species of government: republican, monarchical, and despotic.”~Montesquieu
  29. “If I knew of something that could serve my nation but would ruin another, I would not propose it to my prince, for I am first a man and only then a Frenchman… because I am necessarily a man, and only accidentally am I, French.”~Montesquieu
  30. “When the body of the people is possessed of the supreme power, it is called a democracy.”~Montesquieu
  31. “There is only one thing that can form a bond between men, and that is gratitude… we cannot give someone else greater power over us than we have ourselves.”~Montesquieu
  32. “The sublimity of administration consists in knowing the proper degree of power that should be exerted on different occasions.”~Montesquieu
  33. “Luxury ruins republics; poverty, monarchies.”~Montesquieu

  34. “To love to read is to exchange hours of ennui for hours of delight.”~Montesquieu
  35. “An author is a fool who, not content with boring those he lives with, insists on boring future generations.”~Montesquieu
  36. “There are only two cases in which war is just: first, in order to resist the aggression of an enemy, and second, in order to help an ally who has been attacked.”~Montesquieu
  37. “The object of war is victory; that of victory is conquest; and that of conquest preservation.”~Montesquieu
  38. “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.”~Montesquieu
  39. “In most things success depends on knowing how long it takes to succeed.”~Montesquieu

  40. “There is no nation so powerful, as the one that obeys its laws not from principles of fear or reason, but from passion.”~Montesquieu
  41. “Not to be loved is a misfortune, but it is an insult to be loved no longer.”~Montesquieu
  42. “Laws undertake to punish only overt acts.”~Montesquieu

  43. “Men should be bewailed at their birth, and not at their death.”~Montesquieu
  44. “They who assert that a blind fatality produced the various effects we behold in this world talk very absurdly; for can anything be more unreasonable than to pretend that a blind fatality could be productive of intelligent beings?”~Montesquieu
  45. “The spirit of moderation should also be the spirit of the lawgiver.”~Montesquieu
  46. “It is always the adventurers who do great things, not the sovereigns of great empires.”~Montesquieu
  47. “Men, who are rogues individually, are in the mass very honorable people.”~Montesquieu
  48. “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.”~Montesquieu

  49. “Republics end through luxury; monarchies through poverty.”~Montesquieu

  50. “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.”~Montesquieu

  51. “The state of slavery is in its own nature bad.”~Montesquieu
  52. “Talent is a gift which God has given us secretly, and which we reveal without perceiving it.”~Montesquieu
  53. “Raillery is a mode of speaking in favor of one’s wit at the expense of one’s better nature.”~Montesquieu
  54. “Weak minds exaggerate too much the wrong done to the Africans.”~Montesquieu

  55. “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.”~Montesquieu
  56. “What orators lack in depth they make up for in length.”~Montesquieu

  57. Friendship is an arrangement by which we undertake to exchange small favors for big ones.”~Montesquieu
  58. “Law, in general, is human reason, inasmuch as it governs all the inhabitants of the earth: the political and civil laws of each nation ought to be only the particular cases in which human reason is applied.”~Montesquieu
  59. “Thus the creation, which seems an arbitrary act, supposes laws as invariable as those of the fatality of the Atheists. It would be absurd to say that the Creator might govern the world without those rules, since without them it could not subsist.”~Montesquieu
  60. “The reason the Romans built their great paved highways was because they had such inconvenient footwear.”
  61. “Each particular society begins to feel its strength, whence arises a state of war between different nations.”~Montesquieu
  62. “Life was given to me as a favor, so I may abandon it when it is one no longer.”~Montesquieu
  63. “Peace is a natural effect of trade.”~Montesquieu
  64. “I have read descriptions of Paradise that would make any sensible person stop wanting to go there.”~Montesquieu
  65. Author: A fool who, not content with having bored those who have lived with him, insists on tormenting generations to come.”~Montesquieu

Comment Your Favourite Montesquieu Quotes Below!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *