Baron de Montesquieu Quotes - Page 9

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

To lend money without interest, is certainly an action laudable and extremely good; but it is obvious, that it is only a counsel of religion, and not a civil law.

I shall ever repeat it, that mankind are governed not by extremes, but by principals of moderation.

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

The public business must be carried on with a certain motion, neither too quick nor too slow.

Republics end through luxury; monarchies through poverty.

Liberty is the right of doing whatever the laws permit.

Christianity stamped its character on jurisprudence; for empire has ever a connection with the priesthood.

It is always the adventurers who do great things, not the sovereigns of great empires.

A man who writes well writes not as others write, but as he himself writes; it is often in speaking badly that he speaks well.

Very good laws may be ill timed.

Republics come to an end by luxurious habits; monarchies by poverty.

In every government there are three sorts of power: the legislative; the executive in respect to things dependent on the law of nations; and the executive in regard to matters that depend on the civil law.

In constitutional states, liberty is compensation for heavy taxes; in dictatorships, the subsititue is light taxes.

We ought to be very cautious in the prosecution of magic and heresy. The attempt to put down these two crimes may be extremely perilous to liberty, and may be the origin of a number of petty acts of tyranny if the legislator be not on his guard; for as such an accusation does not bear directly on the overt acts of a citizen, but refers to the idea we entertain of his character.

Human laws made to direct the will ought to give precepts, and not counsels.

In the birth of societies it is the chiefs of states who give it its special character; and afterward it is this special character that forms the chiefs of state.

Honor sets all the parts of the body politic in motion, and by its very action connects them; thus each individual advances the public good, while he only thinks of promoting his own interest.

Better it is to say that the government most comfortable to nature is that which best agrees with the humor and disposition of the people in whose favor it is established.

In a republic there is no coercive force as in other governments, the laws must therefore endeavor to supply this defect.

Man, as a physical being, is like other bodies governed by invariable laws.

In bodies moved, the motion is received, increased, diminished, or lost, according to the relations of the quantity of matter and velocity; each diversity is uniformity, each change is constancy.

Vanity and pride of nations; vanity is as advantageous to a government as pride is dangerous.

The laws do not take upon them to punish any other than overt acts.

It is difficult for the united states to be all of equal power and extent.