Montesquieu quotes

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

The sublimity of administration consists in knowing the proper degree of power that should be exerted on different occasions.

There are only two cases in which war is just: first, in order to resist the aggression of an enemy, and second, in order to help an ally who has been attacked.

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.

If triangles had a god, they would give him three sides.

When the body of the people is possessed of the supreme power, it is called a democracy.

As soon as man enters into a state of society he loses the sense of his weakness; equality ceases, and then commences the state of war.

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

Although born in a prosperous realm, we did not believe that its boundaries should limit our knowledge, and that the lore of the East should alone enlighten us.

Men, who are rogues individually, are in the mass very honorable people.

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.

Although born in a prosperous realm, we did not believe that its boundaries should limit our knowledge, and that the lore of the East should alone enlighten us.

In most things success depends on knowing how long it takes to succeed.

We should weep for men at their birth, not at their death.

It is not the young people that degenerate; they are not spoiled till those of mature age are already sunk into corruption.

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

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

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

There should be weeping at a man's birth, not at his death.

Religious wars are not caused by the fact that there is more than one religion, but by the spirit of intolerance... the spread of which can only be regarded as the total eclipse of human reason.

An author is a fool who, not content with boring those he lives with, insists on boring future generations.

Society is the union of men and not the men themselves.

There are three species of government: republican, monarchical, and despotic.

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

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.

A man should be mourned at his birth, not at his death.

Each particular society begins to feel its strength, whence arises a state of war between different nations.

The object of war is victory; that of victory is conquest; and that of conquest preservation.

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.

The deterioration of a government begins almost always by the decay of its principles.

Peace is a natural effect of trade.

The law of nations is naturally founded on this principle, that different nations ought in time of peace to do one another all the good they can, and in time of war as little injury as possible, without prejudicing their real interests.

We should weep for men at their birth, not at their death.

The object of war is victory; that of victory is conquest; and that of conquest preservation.

There are only two cases in which war is just: first, in order to resist the aggression of an enemy, and second, in order to help an ally who has been attacked.