Charles De Montesquieu

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

— Charles De Montesquieu

Lunch kills half of Paris, supper the other half.

— 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

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

— Charles De Montesquieu

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

— Charles De Montesquieu

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

— Charles De Montesquieu

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

— Charles De Montesquieu

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

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

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

Useless laws weaken the necessary laws.

— Charles De Montesquieu

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

— Charles De Montesquieu

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

— Charles De Montesquieu

The severity of the laws prevents their execution.

— Charles De Montesquieu

Political liberty is to be found only in moderate governments.

— Charles De Montesquieu

Liberty is the right to do what the law permits.

— Charles De Montesquieu

Luxury ruins republics; poverty, monarchies.

— Charles De Montesquieu

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

— Charles De Montesquieu

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

— Charles De Montesquieu

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

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

— Charles De Montesquieu