Montesquieu Quotes

It is possible that the law, which is clear sighted in one sense, and blind in another,
might, in some cases, be too severe. But as we have already observed, the national judges are no more than the mouth that pronounces the words of the law, mere passive beings, incapable of moderating either its force or rigor. That part, therefore, of the legislative body, which we have just now observed to be a necessary tribunal on another occasion, also is a necessary tribunal in this; it belongs to its supreme authority to moderate the law in favor of the law itself, by mitigating the sentence.

Talent is a gift which God has given us secretly, and which we reveal without perceiving it.

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

If we only wanted to be happy, it would be easy; but we want to be happier than other people, which is almost always difficult, since we think them happier than they are.

If triangles had a god, he would have three sides.

Pole midagi kummalisemat, kui saata hukatusse suur hulk inimesi selleks, et maapõuest välja tuua kulda ja hõbedat - iseenesest täiesti tarbetuid metalle, mis kujutavad endast rikkust vaid sellepärast, et nad on valitud seda tähistama... (CXVIII kiri).

Knowledge makes men gentle; reason leads to humanity; but prejudices can only eradicate both these dispositions.

If one only wished to be happy, this could be easily accomplished; but we wish to be happier than other people, and this is always difficult, for we believe others to be happier than they are.

"[245] "In large and populous cities," says the author of the Fable of the Bees, i, p. 133, "they wear clothes above their rank, and, consequently, have the pleasure of being esteemed by a vast majority, not as what they are, but what they appear to be.

Nature repairs everything.

THE first Greeks were all pirates. Minos, who enjoyed the empire of the sea, was only more successful, perhaps, than others in piracy; for his maritime dominion extended no farther than round his own isle. But when the Greeks became a great people, the Athenians obtained the real dominion of the sea; because this trading and victorious nation gave laws to the most potent monarch of that time; and humbled the maritime powers of Syria, of the isle of Cyprus, and Phœnicia.

The Tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy
is not so dangerous to the public welfare as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy.

With truths of a certain kind, it is not enough to make them appear convincing: one must also make them felt. Of such kind are moral truths.

I've never known any trouble that an hour's reading didn't assuage.

Not to be loved is a misfortune, but it is an insult to be loved no longer.