Charles de Montesquieu

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Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689 - 1755), known also as Charles de Montesquieu was a French political thinker who lived during the Enlightenment and is famous for his articulation of the theory of separation of powers.

Contents 1 Sourced 1.1 Lettres Persanes (1721) [Persian Letters] 1.2 De l'Esprit des Lois (1748) [The Spirit of the Laws] 1.3 Pensees Diverses 1.4 Pensées et Fragments Inédits de Montesquieu (1899) 2 Attributed 3 External links

Sourced

Lettres Persanes (1721) [Persian Letters]

• Not to be loved is a misfortune, but it is an insult to be loved no longer.
  • No. 3

• [The Ottoman Empire] whose sick body was not supported by a mild and regular diet, but by a powerful treatment, which continually exhausted it.
  • No. 19

• [The Pope] will make the king believe that three are only one, that the bread he eats is not bread...and a thousand other things of the same kind.
  • No. 24

• I can assure you that no kingdom has ever had as many civil wars as the kingdom of Christ.
  • No. 29

• Do you think that God will punish them for not practicing a religion which he did not reveal to them?
  • No. 35

• A man should be mourned at his birth, not at his death.
  • No. 40

• People here argue about religion interminably, but it appears that they are competing at the same time to see who can be the least devout.
  • No. 46

• Oh, how empty is praise when it reflects back to its origin!
  • No. 50

• Life was given to me as a favor, so I may abandon it when it is one no longer.
  • No. 76

• 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.
  • No. 85

• 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.
  • No. 95

• There is only one thing that can form a bond between men, and that is gratitude...we cannot give someone else greater power over us than we have ourselves.
  • No. 104

• I have read descriptions of Paradise that would make any sensible person stop wanting to go there.
  • No. 125

De l'Esprit des Lois (1748) [The Spirit of the Laws]

• Les republiques finissent par le luxe; les monarchies, par la pauvrete.
  • Translation: Republics end through luxury; monarchies through poverty.
  • VII, ch. IV

• La corruption de chaque gouvernement commence presque toujours par celle des principes.
  • Translation: The deterioration of a government begins almost always by the decay of its principles.
  • VIII, ch. I

• La Societe est l'union des hommes, et non pas les hommes.
  • Translation: Society is the union of men and not the men themselves.
  • X, ch. 3

• Liberty is the right of doing whatever the laws permit.
  • XI, ch. 3

• But constant experience shows us that every man invested with power is apt to abuse it, and to carry his authority as far as it will go.
  • XI, ch. 4

• When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person, or in the same body of magistrates, there can be no liberty; because apprehensions may arise, lest the same monarch or senate should enact tyrannical laws, to execute them in a tyrannical manner.
  • XI, ch. 6

• [Britain is] a nation that may be justly called a republic, disguised under the form of a monarchy.
  • XIX, ch. 68

• Les hommes, fripons en detail, sont en gros de tres-honnetes gens.
  • Translation: Men, who are rogues individually, are in the mass very honorable people.
  • XXV, ch. 2

• Useless laws weaken the necessary laws.
  • XXIX, ch. 16

Pensees Diverses

• La raillerie est un discours en faveur de son esprit contre son bon naturel.
  • Translation: Raillery is a mode of speaking in favor of one's wit at the expense of one's better nature.

• Le succes de la plupart des choses depend de savoir combien il faut de temps pour reussir.
  • Translation: The success of most things depends upon knowing how long it will take to succeed.

• J'ai toujours vu que, pour reussir dans le monde, il fallait avoir l'air fou et etre sage.
  • Translation: I have always observed that to succeed in the world one should appear like a fool but be wise.

Pensées et Fragments Inédits de Montesquieu (1899)

• 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.
  • I

• You have to study a great deal to know a little.
  • I

Attributed

• Happy the people whose annals are tiresome.

• Power ought to serve as a check to power.

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

External links

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bg:Шарл Монтескьо

bs:Charles-Louis de Secondat Montesquieu de:Charles de Montesquieu es:Montesquieu eo:Montesquieu fr:Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu it:Montesquieu he:שארל לואי מונטסקייה hu:Montesquieu nl:Charles Montesquieu pl:Monteskiusz pt:Montesquieu ru:Монтескье, Шарль Луи sl:Charles de Secondat Montesquieu tr:Montesquieu