I suffer from the disease of writing books and being ashamed of them when they are finished. — Baron de Montesquieu Ashamed Copy Share Image
There are countries where a man is worth nothing; there are others where he is worth less than nothing. — Baron de Montesquieu Countries Copy Share Image
Countries are not cultivated in proportion to their fertility, but to their liberty. — Baron de Montesquieu Countries 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
This punishment of death is the remedy, as it were, of a sick society. — Baron de Montesquieu Death Copy Share Image
When God endowed human beings with brains, He did not intend to guarantee them. — Baron de Montesquieu Brain Copy Share Image
The English are busy folk; they have no time in which to be polite. — Baron de Montesquieu Copy Share Image
Fain would I glide down a gentle river, but I am carried away by a torrent. — 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 pagan religion, which prohibited only some of the grosser crimes, and which stopped the hand but meddled not with the heart,… — Baron de Montesquieu Crime Copy Share Image
The mood and temper of the public in regard to the treatment of crime and criminals is one of the most unfailing… — Baron de Montesquieu Civilisation Copy Share Image
Sometimes a man who deserves to be looked upon because he is a fool is despised only because he is a lawyer. — Baron de Montesquieu Copy Share Image
Experience constantly proves that every man who has power is impelled to abuse it; he goes on till he is pulled up… — Baron de Montesquieu Abuse Copy Share Image
The Christian religion is a stranger to mere despotic power. The mildness so frequently recommended in the Gospel is incompatible with the… — Baron de Montesquieu Christian Copy Share Image
Honor sets all the parts of the body politic in motion, and by its very action connects them; thus each individual advances… — Baron de Montesquieu Action Copy Share Image
Better it is to say that the government most comfortable to nature is that which best agrees with the humor and disposition… — 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 Alms 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
Certain kinds of foolishness are such that a greater foolishness would be better. — Baron de Montesquieu Copy Share Image
There have never been so many civil wars as in the Kingdom of Christ. — Baron de Montesquieu Christ Copy Share Image
It is difficult for the united states to be all of equal power and extent. — Baron de Montesquieu Copy Share Image
A fondness for reading changes the inevitable dull hours of our life into exquisite hours of delight. — Baron de Montesquieu Change Copy Share Image
The public business must be carried on with a certain motion, neither too quick nor too slow. — Baron de Montesquieu Business Copy Share Image
The majority of men are more capable of great actions than of good ones. — Baron de Montesquieu Action Copy Share Image
There is hardly any grief that an hour's reading will not dissipate. — Baron de Montesquieu Grief Copy Share Image
Political liberty is to be found only in moderate governments. — Baron de Montesquieu Copy Share Image
The life of man is but a succession of vain hopes and groundless fears. — Baron de Montesquieu Fear Copy Share Image
Laws, in their most general signification, are the necessary relations derived from the nature of things. — Baron de Montesquieu Funny Copy Share Image
Christianity stamped its character on jurisprudence; for empire has ever a connection with the priesthood. — Baron de Montesquieu Character Copy Share Image
It is necessary from the very nature of things that power should be a check to power. — Baron de Montesquieu Copy Share Image
Liberty... is there only when there is no abuse of power. — Baron de Montesquieu Abuse Copy Share Image
There is something in animals beside the power of motion. They are not machines; they feel. — Baron de Montesquieu Animal Copy Share Image
A good writer does not write as people write, but as he writes. — Baron de Montesquieu Copy Share Image
The deterioration of every government begins with the decay of the principles on which it was founded. — Baron de Montesquieu Anti war Copy Share Image
Republics are brought to their ends by luxury; monarchies by poverty. — Baron de Montesquieu Democracy Copy Share Image
The coffee is prepared in such a way that it makes those who drink it witty: at least there is not a… — Baron de Montesquieu Copy Share Image
Study has been for me the sovereign remedy against all the disappointments of life. I have never known any trouble that an… — Baron de Montesquieu Books Copy Share Image
