Montesquieu Quotes

Nothing is a greater obstacle to our progress in knowledge, than a bad performance of a celebrated author; because, before we instruct we must begin with undeceiving.

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

il faut vivre avec les hommes tels qu ils sont : les gens qu on dit etre de si bonne compagnie ne sont souvent que ceux dont les vices sont plus raffines ; et peut-etre en est-il comme des poisons, dont les plus subtils sont aussi les plus dangereux.

What I have here advanced is confirmed by the unanimous testimony of historians, and is extremely agreeable to the nature of things. For it is clear that in a monarchy, where he who commands the execution of the laws generally thinks himself above them, there is less need of virtue than in a popular government, where the person entrusted with the execution of the laws is sensible of his being subject to their direction.

I've never known any trouble that an hour's worth of reading didn't assauge

The history of commerce is that of the communication of the people.

The desire for glory is no different from that instinct for preservation that is common to all creatures. It is as if we enhance our being if we can gain a place in the memory of others; it is a new life that we acquire, which becomes as precious to us as the one we received from Heaven.

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.

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

The right of conquest is not a right. A society can be founded only with the consent of its members. If it is destroyed by conquest, the nation becomes free again; it is not a new society, and if the conquerer tries to create one it will be a dictatorship.

I have read descriptions of Paradise that would make any sensible person stop wanting to go there.

I've never known any distress that an hour's reading didn't relieve.

A person of my acquaintance said: . . .

'Study has always been for me the sovereign remedy against life's unpleasantness, since I have never experienced any sorrow that an hour's reading did not eliminate.

C est le tyran qui m outrage, et non pas celui qui exerce la tyrannie

"[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.