Quotes by Montesquieu, Charles De

"Lunch kills half of Paris, supper the other half."

Montesquieu, Charles De on food and eating   

"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."

Montesquieu, Charles De on fortune   

"Countries are well cultivated, not as they are fertile, but as they are free."

Montesquieu, Charles De on freedom   

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

Montesquieu, Charles De on friends and friendship   

"If triangles made a god, they would give him three sides."

Montesquieu, Charles De on god
3 fans of this quote   

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

Montesquieu, Charles De on greatness   

"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."

Montesquieu, Charles De on happiness   

"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."

Montesquieu, Charles De on happiness   

"We wish to be happier than other people; and this is difficult, for we believe others to be happier than they are."

Montesquieu, Charles De on happiness
11 fans of this quote   

"Useless laws weaken the necessary laws."

Montesquieu, Charles De on law and lawyers   

"There is no nation so powerful, as the one that obeys its laws not from principles of fear or reason, but from passion."

Montesquieu, Charles De on law and lawyers   

"The spirit of moderation should also be the spirit of the lawgiver."

Montesquieu, Charles De on law and lawyers   

"The severity of the laws prevents their execution."

Montesquieu, Charles De on law and lawyers   

"Political liberty is to be found only in moderate governments."

Montesquieu, Charles De on liberty   

"Liberty is the right to do what the law permits."

Montesquieu, Charles De on liberty   

"Luxury ruins republics; poverty, monarchies."

Montesquieu, Charles De on luxury
3 fans of this quote   

"I have always observed that to succeed in the world a person must seem simple, yet wise."

Montesquieu, Charles De on simplicity   

"What orators lack in depth, they make up to you in length."

Montesquieu, Charles De on speakers and speaking   

"This is how I define talent; it is a gift that God has given us in secret, which we reveal without knowing it."

Montesquieu, Charles De on talent   

"Success in the majority of circumstances depends on knowing how long it takes to succeed."

Montesquieu, Charles De on time   

"We should weep for men at their birth, not at their death."

Montesquieu, Charles De on death