Quotes from Montesquieu

A man should be mourned at his birth, not at his death.

I have read descriptions of Paradise that would make any sensible person stop wanting to go there.

An empire founded by war has to maintain itself by war.

The object of war is victory; that of victory is conquest; and that of conquest preservation.

There are only two cases in which war is just: first, in order to resist the aggression of an enemy, and second, in order to help an ally who has been attacked.

Lunch kills half of Paris, supper the other half.

Power ought to serve as a check to power.

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

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

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

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

Each particular society begins to feel its strength, whence arises a state of war between different nations.

There is no greater tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of the law and in the name of justice.

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

Religious wars are not caused by the fact that there is more than one religion, but by the spirit of intolerance... the spread of which can only be regarded as the total eclipse of human reason.

The severity of the laws prevents their execution.

The law of nations is naturally founded on this principle, that different nations ought in time of peace to do one another all the good they can, and in time of war as little injury as possible, without prejudicing their real interests.

The deterioration of a government begins almost always by the decay of its principles.

If I knew of something that could serve my nation but would ruin another, I would not propose it to my prince, for I am first a man and only then a Frenchman... because I am necessarily a man, and only accidentally am I French.

Happy the people whose annals are tiresome.

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

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

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

Republics end through luxury; monarchies through poverty.