In the birth of societies it is the chiefs of states who give it its special character; and afterward it is this special character that forms the chiefs of state.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUIn the birth of societies it is the chiefs of states who give it its special character; and afterward it is this special character that forms the chiefs of state.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEU…when the laws have ceased to be executed, as this can only come from the corruption of the republic, the state is already lost.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUFor a country, everything will be lost when the jobs of an economist and a banker become highly respected professions.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUTalent is a gift which God has given us secretly, and which we reveal without perceiving it.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUThe life of man is but a succession of vain hopes and groundless fears.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUThe English are busy; they don’t have time to be polite.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUThe alms given to a naked man in the street do not fulfil the obligations of the state, which owes to every citizen a certain subsistence, a proper nourishment, convenient clothing, and a kind of life not incompatible with health.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUFalse 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.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUPolitical liberty is to be found only in moderate governments.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUI should like to abolish funerals; the time to mourn a person is at his birth, not his death.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUI have ever held it as a maxim never to do that through another which it was impossible for me to execute myself.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUWhen 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.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUThe prejudices of superstition are superior to all others, and have the strongest influence on the human mind.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUThe majority of men are more capable of great actions than of good ones.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUThe sublimity of administration consists in knowing the proper degree of power that should be exerted on different occasions.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUWhen one wants to change manners and customs, one should not do so by changing the laws.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEU