I have never known any distress that an hour’s reading did not relieve.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUI have never known any distress that an hour’s reading did not relieve.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUI never listen to calumnies, because if they are untrue I run the risk of being deceived, and if they be true, of hating persons not worth thinking about.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUExperience constantly proves that every man who has power is impelled to abuse it; he goes on till he is pulled up by some limits. Who would say it! virtue even has need of limits.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUWhat 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.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUThe less men think, the more they talk.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUVanity and pride of nations; vanity is as advantageous to a government as pride is dangerous.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUWherever I find envy I take a pleasure in provoking it: I always praise before an envious man those who make him grow pale.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUThe coffee is prepared in such a way that it makes those who drink it witty: at least there is not a single soul who, on quitting the house, does not believe himself four times wittier that when he entered it.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUThe pagan religion, which prohibited only some of the grosser crimes, and which stopped the hand but meddled not with the heart, might have crimes that were inexplicable.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUPolitics are a smooth file, which cuts gradually, and attains its end by slow progression.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUSlowness is frequently the cause of much greater slowness.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUThe deterioration of every government begins with the decay of the principles on which it was founded.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEULove of the republic in a democracy, is a love of the democracy; love of the democracy is that of equality. Love of the democracy is likewise that of frugality.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUThere is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetuated under the shield of law and in the name of justice.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEUIn a republic there is no coercive force as in other governments, the laws must therefore endeavor to supply this defect.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEURepublics end through luxury; monarchies through poverty.
BARON DE MONTESQUIEU