Aphorisms and quotes by Charles Montesquieu

Charles Louis Montesquieu, (1689-1755), educator, jurist, philosopher

Celibacy is created by promiscuity. Both sexes avoid the union that should make them better, and remain in a union that makes them worse.

Most people are capable of great deeds rather than good deeds.

Importance is the shield of fools.

Delve into the causes of all licentiousness, and you will see that it stems from impunity for crimes, and not from the weakness of punishments.

It is in the nature of rational beings to feel their imperfections; That’s why nature gave us modesty, that is, a feeling of shame in front of these imperfections.

Every person with power is prone to abuse it.

In a good deed there is always both kindness and strength to perform it.

For a citizen, political freedom is peace of mind based on the conviction of one’s safety.

... If there is no respect for the elders, then there will be no respect for the fathers.

If the character as a whole is good, then it does not matter if there are some shortcomings in him.

There are vices that come from a lack of self-esteem. There are also those that come from an excess of it.

There are means to fight crime: these are punishments; there are means for changing customs: these are examples.

The desire for fame is common to all people. We seem to multiply our being when we can imprint it in the memory of others.

Women speak more than men.

The cruelty of laws prevents their compliance.

The envious person is his own enemy because he suffers from evil created by himself.

Laws must have the same meaning for everyone.

What speakers lack in depth, they make up for in length.

Study was for me the main remedy against the boredom of life, and I never had a grief that did not dissipate after one hour of reading.

Sometimes silence is more expressive than any speech.

How small is the gap between the time when a person is still too young and when he is already too old.

What satisfaction does a person experience when, looking into his own heart, he is convinced that his heart is fair?

The books of the ancients were written for the authors, the new books for the public readers.

When they chase wit, sometimes they only catch stupidity.

When a person goes out of his way to try to make others fear him... the first thing he achieves is to be hated.

Idle people are always big talkers. The less you think, the more you speak.

False happiness makes people callous and proud; this happiness is never communicated to others. True happiness makes them kind and sensitive - this happiness is always shared by others.

The best way to instill in children love for the fatherland is for their fathers to have this love.

To love reading is to exchange hours of boredom, inevitable in life, for hours of great pleasure.

People are like plants that do not grow well unless they are well cared for.

Financiers support the state just as a rope supports a hanged man.

It seems to me, my dear, that the heads of even the greatest men grow dull when they are gathered together, and that where there are most wise men, there is least wisdom.

It seems to me that the most perfect thing is that which achieves its goals at the least cost.

It seems to me that hatred is full of suffering for the one who feels it.

You have to study a lot to know even a little.

Laws should not achieve what can be achieved by improving morals.

An injustice committed against one person is a threat to all.

There is nothing more annoying than seeing a well-spoken word die in the ear of the fool to whom you said it.

One should never exhaust a subject to the point that nothing is left for the reader to do; the point is not to make him read, but to make him think.

You need to be truthful in everything, even when it comes to your homeland. Every citizen is obliged to die for his homeland, but one can never be obliged to lie in the name of the homeland.

Charm more often lies in the mind than in the face, since the beauty of the face is revealed immediately and does not conceal anything unexpected; but the mind opens up only little by little when the person himself desires it, and to the extent that he desires it.

People are usually afraid of retreating in speech, but I think that those who skillfully make retreats are like long-armed people - they can capture more.

It is usually our will to give our children our knowledge; and even more, to give them our passions.

Doesn't freeing oneself from observing the rules of decency mean looking for means to freely display one's shortcomings?

Very happy people, as well as very unhappy people, are equally prone to callousness.

Those who think that a people undergoing a revolution can be easily defeated are mistaken; on the contrary, he is able to defeat others.

Idleness, more than any other vice, weakens courage.

The principle of democracy decays not only when the spirit of equality is lost, but also when the spirit of equality is carried to the extreme and everyone wants to be equal to those whom he has elected as his rulers.

Nature always acts slowly and economically in its own way.

Reason has natural power... It is resisted, but this resistance is its victory; wait a little longer, and the person will be forced to return to him.

The most cruel tyranny is that which appears under the shadow of legality and under the banner of justice.

Children need to be treated gently because punishment hardens them.

Continuous idleness should have been placed among the torments of hell, but it was placed among the bliss of heaven.

People should be mourned when they are born, not when they die.

One should carefully distinguish among peoples jealousy, which is generated by passion, from jealousy, which has a basis in customs, morals, and laws. One is an all-consuming feverish flame; the other, cold, but sometimes scary, can be combined with indifference and contempt.

Those who love to learn are never idle.

A woman has only one opportunity to be beautiful, but there are a hundred thousand opportunities to be attractive.

The French almost never talk about their wives: they are afraid that the interlocutor may know more about this subject than they do.

Man is governed by unchanging laws; as a being gifted with intelligence, he constantly violates the laws established by God and changes those that he himself established.

You don't have to be the greatest genius to do great things; You don’t need to be above people, you need to be with them.

To shake off annoying and unbearable thoughts, all I have to do is start reading; it easily captures my attention and drives them away.

To know people, you need to forgive them the prejudices of their time.

I am not averse to laughing at the people I meet, believing that they, if they want, can laugh at me.

Most of what makes us happy is unreasonable.

All husbands are ugly.

Everyone wants to purchase heavenly bliss at the cheapest price possible.

Heroism that does not contradict good morality touches people little: only heroism, which destroys morality, evokes both surprise and delight in people.

The emergence of a new sect in the state is the surest means of correcting the errors of the old one.

The Jewish religion is an old tree, from the trunk of which two branches grew, covering the entire earth - I mean Mohammedanism and Christianity. Or better yet, she is a mother who gave birth to two daughters who caused her many wounds.

If you want to be happy, then this can be achieved. But people usually want to be happier than others, and this is almost impossible, because we always consider others happier than they really are.

If triangles created a god for themselves, he would have three sides.

If a person is a good geometer and is known as such, he must still prove that he is an intelligent person.

The best argument for the fickleness of men is that the institution of marriage had to be introduced.

One must first be a bad citizen in order to become a good slave.

It always hurts me greatly that I underestimate those I don't respect too much.

Piety finds justifications for bad actions that a simple decent person would not find.

Ridicule is speaking in favor of your mind and against your heart.

Not being loved is misfortune; to stop being one is an insult.

Injustice against one is a threat to all.

You need to know the value of money: wasteful people do not know it, and stingy people even less.

Useless laws weaken the power of useful ones.

Paris creates the French.

Contempt in most cases deserves only contempt.

Religions that are closest to each other are at the same time the most hostile to each other.

First the works give glory to the author, and then the author gives glory to his works.

First you need to study Latin well. Then you need to forget her.

I don't love God because I don't know him; and I do not love my neighbor because I know him.

I do not share anyone's opinions other than those contained in the books of Euclid.

I'm distracted; I have no other memory except the memory of my heart.

In the matter of taxes, one should take into account not what the people can give, but what they can always give.

Freedom is the right to do everything that is permitted by law. If a citizen could do what these laws prohibit, then he would not have freedom, since other citizens could do the same.

In mechanics one often has to deal with the force of friction, which changes or overturns the conclusions of an incorrect theory; A similar frictional force operates in politics.

All people are animals, and sovereigns are animals who are not kept on a leash.

Empires created with the help of military force cannot exist without the help of military force.

History is a series of fictitious events that actually happened.

It is not because something is just that it is legal; on the contrary: only that which is fair should be legal.

He loves trophies and victories, but he is just as afraid to put a good general at the head of his troops as he would be afraid of him at the head of the enemy army. (About Louis XIV)

Refined people are those who have many additional ideas and perceptions attached to each idea or perception.

I am a man first, and then a Frenchman.

There is a means to prevent crimes - these are punishments; there are means to change morals - these are good examples.

Nature wisely made sure that human stupidities are transitory, but books perpetuate them. The fool should be content with the fact that he has bothered all his contemporaries, but he also wants to annoy future generations, he wants posterity to be aware that he lived in the world, and so that they will not forget forever that he was a fool.

Montesquieu Charles Louis brief biography (1689 - 1755)

Montesquieu Charles Louis quotes.
French philosopher, jurist, educator. Montesquieu was known for his defense of the principle of separation of executive, legislative and judicial powers as a means of ensuring the rule of law. Born in the castle of Labrede, he had the title of Baron de Labrede. He was educated at the Oratorian College at Juilly near Paris, then began studying law at the University of Bordeaux and became a lawyer in 1708.

Having won the sympathy of wide sections of the reading public in 1721 with a lively satire on French society - “Persian Letters”, in 1728 Montesquieu was elected a member of the French Academy. In the same year, he went on a trip to Austria, Italy, small German principalities along the Rhine, and Holland.

“Reflections on the Causes of the Greatness and Fall of the Romans” is a small but very important book for Montesquieu’s work. “On the Spirit of Laws” is Montesquieu’s life’s work, which was included in the “Index of Prohibited Books” in 1751. The philosopher opposed absolutism and analyzed various forms of government. He was buried in the Church of Saint-Sulpice.