Author: Montesquieu

Quotes

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

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

- Montesquieu

Talent is a gift which God has given us secretly, and which we reveal without perceiving it.

Talent is a gift which God has given us secretly, and which we reveal without perceiving it.

- Montesquieu

I have never known any distress that an hour's reading did not relieve.

I have never known any distress that an hour's reading did not relieve.

- 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.

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

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.

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

An empire founded by war has to maintain itself by war.

An empire founded by war has to maintain itself by war.

- Montesquieu

Power ought to serve as a check to power.

Power ought to serve as a check to power.

- Montesquieu

There is no nation so powerful, as the one that obeys its laws not from principals of fear or reason, but from passion.

There is no nation so powerful, as the one that obeys its laws not from principals of fear or reason, but from passion.

- Montesquieu

Friendship is an arrangement by which we undertake to exchange small favors for big ones.

Friendship is an arrangement by which we undertake to exchange small favors for big ones.

- Montesquieu

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