There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetuated under the shield of law and in the name of justice.
Charles de Montesquieu

False happiness renders men stern and proud, and that happiness is never communicated. True happiness renders them kind and sensible, and that happiness is always shared.
Charles de Montesquieu

If triangles had a god, they would give him three sides.
Charles de Montesquieu

It is not the young people that degenerate; they are not spoiled till those of mature age are already sunk into corruption.
Charles de Montesquieu

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.
Charles de Montesquieu

Author: A fool who, not content with having bored those who have lived with him, insists on tormenting generations to come.
Charles de Montesquieu

Friendship is an arrangement by which we undertake to exchange small favors for big ones.
Charles de Montesquieu

Lunch kills half of Paris, supper the other half.
Charles de Montesquieu

The sublimity of administration consists in knowing the proper degree of power that should be exerted on different occasions.
Charles de Montesquieu

No kingdom has shed more blood than the kingdom of Christ.
Charles de Montesquieu

I have always observed that to succeed in the world one should seem a fool, but be wise.
Charles de Montesquieu

The less men think, the more they talk.
Charles de Montesquieu

What orators lack in depth they make up for in length.
Charles de Montesquieu

In the infancy of societies, the chiefs of state shape its institutions; later the institutions shape the chiefs of state.
Charles de Montesquieu

We must have constantly present in our minds the difference between independence and liberty. Liberty is a right of doing whatever the laws permit, and if a citizen could do what they forbid he would no longer be possessed of liberty.
Charles de Montesquieu

A nation may lose its liberties in a day and not miss them in a century.
Charles de Montesquieu

In most things success depends on knowing how long it takes to succeed.
Charles de Montesquieu

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

To become truly great, one has to stand with people, not above them.
Charles de Montesquieu

There should be weeping at a man's birth, not at his death.
Charles de Montesquieu

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.
Charles de Montesquieu

There is no one, says another, whom fortune does not visit once in his life; but when she does not find him ready to receive her, she walks in at the door, and flies out at the window.
Charles de Montesquieu

Luxury ruins republics; poverty, monarchies.
Charles de Montesquieu

An empire founded by war has to maintain itself by war.
Charles de Montesquieu

I have never known any distress that an hour's reading did not relieve.
Charles de Montesquieu

To love to read is to exchange hours of ennui for hours of delight.
Charles de Montesquieu

Biography
Nationality: French
Type: Philosopher
Born: January 18, 1689
Died: February 10, 1755