1689-1755, French Jurist, Political Philosopher
Countries are well cultivated, not as they are fertile, but as they are free.
Charles De Montesquieu – [Freedom]
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 – [Happiness]
Friendship is an arrangement by which we undertake to exchange small favors for big ones.
Charles De Montesquieu – [Friends and Friendship]
I have always observed that to succeed in the world a person must seem simple, yet wise.
Charles De Montesquieu – [Simplicity]
If one only wished to be happy, this could be easily accomplished; but we wish to be happier that other people, and this is always difficult, for we believe others to be happier than they are.
Charles De Montesquieu – [Happiness]
If triangles made a god, they would give him three sides.
Charles De Montesquieu – [God]
It is always the adventurers who do great things, not the sovereigns of great empires.
Charles De Montesquieu – [Greatness]
Liberty is the right to do what the law permits.
Charles De Montesquieu – [Liberty]
Lunch kills half of Paris, supper the other half.
Charles De Montesquieu – [Food and Eating]
Luxury ruins republics; poverty, monarchies.
Charles De Montesquieu – [Luxury]
Political liberty is to be found only in moderate governments.
Charles De Montesquieu – [Liberty]
Success in the majority of circumstances depends on knowing how long it takes to succeed.
Charles De Montesquieu – [Time and Time Management]
The severity of the laws prevents their execution.
Charles De Montesquieu – [Law and Lawyers]
The spirit of moderation should also be the spirit of the lawgiver.
Charles De Montesquieu – [Law and Lawyers]
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 – [Law and Lawyers]
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 – [Fortune]
This is how I define talent; it is a gift that God has given us in secret, which we reveal without knowing it.
Charles De Montesquieu – [Talent]
Useless laws weaken the necessary laws.
Charles De Montesquieu – [Law and Lawyers]
We should weep for men at their birth, not at their death.
Charles De Montesquieu – [Death and Dying]
We wish to be happier than other people; and this is difficult, for we believe others to be happier than they are.
Charles De Montesquieu – [Happiness]