There are bad examples which are worse than crimes; and more states have perished from the violation of morality than from the… — Baron de Montesquieu Copy Share Image
It is difficult for the united states to be all of equal power and extent. — Baron de Montesquieu Copy Share Image
In constitutional states, liberty is compensation for heavy taxes; in dictatorships, the subsititue is light taxes. — Baron de Montesquieu Copy Share Image
In the state of nature... all men are born equal, but they cannot continue in this equality. Society makes them lose it,… — Baron de Montesquieu Copy Share Image
The state is the association of men, and not men themselves; the citizen may perish, and the man remain. — Baron de Montesquieu Copy Share Image
The alms given to a naked man in the street do not fulfil the obligations of the state, which owes to every… — Baron de Montesquieu Copy Share Image
In the birth of societies it is the chiefs of states who give it its special character; and afterward it is this… — Baron de Montesquieu Copy Share Image
There is still another inconvenieney in conquests made by democracies; their government is ever odious to the conquered states. It is apparently… — Baron de Montesquieu Copy Share Image
Each citizen contributes to the revenues of the State a portion of his property in order that his tenure of the rest… — Baron de Montesquieu Copy Share Image
When the savages of Louisiana wish to have fruit, they cut the tree at the bottom and gather the fruit. That is exactly a… — Baron de Montesquieu Copy Share Image
Political liberty in a citizen is that tranquillity of spirit which comes from the opinion each one has of his security, and in order… — Baron de Montesquieu Copy Share Image
It is rare to find learned men who are clean, do not stink and have a sense of humour. — Baron de Montesquieu Copy Share Image
When virtue is banished, ambition invades the minds of those who are disposed to receive it and avarice possesses the whole community. — Baron de Montesquieu Copy Share Image
A good writer does not write as people write, but as he writes. — Baron de Montesquieu Copy Share Image
Christianity stamped its character on jurisprudence; for empire has ever a connection with the priesthood. — Baron de Montesquieu Copy Share Image
The prejudices of superstition are superior to all others, and have the strongest influence on the human mind. — Baron de Montesquieu Copy Share Image
Republics are brought to their ends by luxury; monarchies by poverty. — Baron de Montesquieu Copy Share Image
Laws, in their most general signification, are the necessary relations derived from the nature of things. — Baron de Montesquieu Copy Share Image