Montesquieu Quotes

I can assure you that no kingdom has ever had as many civil wars as the kingdom of Christ.

~ Montesquieu

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

~ Montesquieu

Democratic and aristocratic states are not in their own nature free. Political liberty is to be found only in moderate governments; and even in these it is not always found. It is there only when there is no abuse of power. 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

Useless laws weaken the necessary laws.

~ Montesquieu

Every man is capable of doing good to another, but to contribute to the happiness of an entire society is to become akin to the gods

~ 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.

~ Montesquieu

The desire for glory is no different from that instinct for preservation that is common to all creatures. It is as if we enhance our being if we can gain a place in the memory of others; it is a new life that we acquire, which becomes as precious to us as the one we received from Heaven.

~ 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.

~ Montesquieu

In republican governments, men are all equal; equal they are also in despotic governments: in the former, because they are everything; in the latter, because they are nothing.

~ Montesquieu

History is full of religious wars; but, we must take care to observe, it was not the multiplicity of religions that produced these wars, it was the intolerating spirit which animated that one which thought she had the power of governing.

~ 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.

~ Montesquieu

A truly virtuous man would come to the aid of the most distant stranger as quickly as to his own friend. If men were perfectly virtuous, they wouldn’t have friends.

~ Montesquieu

There is no greater tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of the law and in the name of justice.

~ Montesquieu