Montesquieu Quotes

More states have perished due to the depravity of customs than from the violation of laws.

I would like to abolish funeral pomp. We should weep for men when they are born, not when they die.

In order to prevent the abuse of power, it is necessary for power to check power.

Countries are not cultivated by reason of their fertility, but by reason of their freedom.

Most men are capable of great deeds rather than good deeds.

Divorce is indispensable in modern civilizations.

When men promise a woman that they will love her forever, they in turn assume that she promises to always be kind to them; if she fails to keep her word, they do not feel bound by theirs.

When a government lasts a long time, it decomposes slowly and imperceptibly.

If triangles made a god, they would envision it with three sides.

Adversity is our mother; prosperity is only our stepmother.

The heads of the greatest men shrink when they come together, and where there are more sane people is also where there is less sanity.

The Christian religion, which seems to have no other purpose than the happiness of the afterlife, also makes us happy in this life.