Charles de Montesquieu Quotes
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Author: A fool who, not content with having bored those who have lived with him, insists on tormenting generations to come.
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The sublimity of administration consists in knowing the proper degree of power that should be exerted on different occasions.
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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.
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What orators lack in depth they make up for in length.
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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.
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I have never known any distress that an hour's reading did not relieve.
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Peace is a natural effect of trade.
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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.
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There is no nation so powerful, as the one that obeys its laws not from principals of fear or reason, but from passion.
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The reason the Romans built their great paved highways was because they had such inconvenient footwear.
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The spirit of moderation should also be the spirit of the lawgiver.
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Useless laws weaken the necessary laws.
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Laws undertake to punish only overt acts.
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I have always observed that to succeed in the world one should seem a fool, but be wise.