The 65 best famous phrases of Montesquieu

He Baron de Montesquieu, Charles-Louis de Secondat (1689 - 1755), is surely one of the most important thinkers of the 18th century in Western Europe. Following the family tradition, he graduated in law to later serve as a councilor in the Bordeaux parliament for more than a decade.

His thought and ideological current was somewhat controversial. A defender of civil and political rights, he also received standing ovations for the despotic system of the Old Regime, as well as defend the (liberal) monarchical system as the most balanced model to guarantee progress and stability in a society.

• Related article: "75 philosophical phrases pronounced by great thinkers"

The most outstanding phrases of Montesquieu

In this section we review the most remembered famous quotes of the frank thinker. The following are the best phrases of Montesquieu.

1. In order for power not to be abused, power must stop power

Montesquieu defended control mechanisms to avoid this phenomenon.

2. Countries are not cultivated because of their fertility, but because of their freedom.

Freedom is what forms civilizations.

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

Throughout history, man has shown his desire to excel.

4. Divorce is indispensable in modern civilizations

With this very modern phrase for the time, the author raised suspicions.

5. When men promise a woman that they will always love her, they assume in turn that they promise to always be kind.

The Baron de Montesquieu understood love in this way, as something reciprocal.

6. When a government lasts a long time, it breaks down little by little and without noticing it.

Too long in power erodes its legitimacy.

7. If triangles made a God, they would devise it with three sides

With this phrase the author intends to make a description of the divine being.

8. Adversity is our mother; prosperity is only our stepmother

Excellent way to raise what life means.

9. The law must be like death, which exempts no one

Justice was a fundamental pillar for the author.

10. An injustice done to the individual is a threat made to the whole society

With this phrase he explains how important it is to avoid injustice in a government.

11. Sport is liked because it flatters greed, that is, the hope of possessing more

Harsh and eloquent criticism of what sport represented at that time, similar to today.

12. To be really great, you have to be with the people, not above them.

This phrase perfectly sums up what should be the qualities of greatness.

13. There is no worse tyranny than that exercised in the shadow of the laws and under the heat of justice.

Sometimes, politics is not exercised with the laws, because these can be unfair.

14. When you search so much for a way to be feared, you always find first the way to be hated

Power is usually associated with fear, a bad combination to legitimize their actions.

15. People who have little to do are usually very talkative: the more you think and act, the less you talk.

It is a good definition to describe the attitude of certain groups.

16. In public law, the most severe act of justice is war, because it can have the effect of destroying society.

With this phrase you can deduce a certain defense to the war action.

17. Bad examples are more harmful than crimes

You always have to know how to make analogies to give good explanations.

18. Customs make the laws, women make the customs; So women make the laws.

For his time, the French thinker had very advanced ideas.

19. Useless laws weaken necessary ones

It is an evil that does not seem to have been elucidated.

20. Admirable maxim: do not talk about things until after they are done

It is usually a common mistake in ignorant people.

21. Friendship is a contract by which we oblige ourselves to do small favors

Curious phrase by Montesquieu that describes the concept of friendship in a reductionist way.

22. When death has equalized fortunes, undertakers shouldn't tell the difference

Excellent contribution to explain class consciousness.

23. A thing is not just because it is law. It must be law because it is fair

The laws emanate from the popular will.

24. A man is unhappy not because of ambition, but because it devours him.

Measured ambition can become a virtue.

25. It seems that our life increases when we can put it in the memory of others

This phrase describes the postmortem phenomenon, when someone famous becomes a social deity.

26. Truth at one time is error at another

Contextualization is relevant to determine the good and the bad in time.

27. You have to study a lot to know little

Sometimes it is better to specialize in a field than to know everything and badly.

28. Happy the people whose history is read with boredom

Is boredom an indispensable variable to achieve happiness?

29. Give a man a chance to be unfair, and he won't waste it.

In some cases Montesquieu was skeptical of the nature of the human being.

30. Clergy and nobility are a good method of control for the Monarch

Even in a despotic system, there should be justice.

31. Nothing can or should be above the laws that govern a society

As a good man of law, the author thus defended his maximum premise.

32. I'd rather quickly agree with most people than listen to them.

With this phrase the author described the majority of society as ignorant.

33. Freedom consists in being able to do what must be done

Obligations are also part of rights in a fair society.

34. Here a husband who loves his wife is a man who does not have enough merit to be loved by another

Curious way of describing the way in which a man should love a woman.

35. To be successful in the world, you have to look crazy and be wise.

Most of humanity's geniuses were peculiar characters.

36. Normally, those who possess great talent are naive.

The good orator is not always a great thinker.

37. We always want to be happier than others, and that's wrong.

The human being lives by and for the eternal comparison with others.

38. Democracy must guard against two excesses: the spirit of inequality and the spirit of extreme equality.

Excellent phrase to oppose two essential concepts in a society.

39. Freedom is the right to do what the laws allow

For Montesquieu, outside the law there is only despotism.

40. The decomposition of all government begins with the decay of the principles on which it was founded.

Only when principles are betrayed is it doomed to failure.

41. When societies are born, the heads of a State are the ones who give it its special character

The figure of the highest authority of a country has enormous responsibilities.

42. If a citizen had the right to do what they prohibit, it would no longer be freedom, since anyone else would have the same right.

A staunch defense of the laws is made again with this phrase.

43. Later, this special character is the one that forms the heads of state

The figure of the president, head of state or king, is also usually the reflection of the people he represents.

44. We always imagine others much happier than they really are.

Human beings constantly fall into this error of comparing themselves to others.

45. If it were enough for us to be happy, the thing would be very easy; but we want to be happier than others

With this phrase, once again, the bad habit of comparison is emphasized.

46. Most of the time, success depends on knowing how long it will take to achieve it.

Success resides in the timeline on many occasions.

47. Luxury is always in proportion to the unevenness of fortunes

This phrase perfectly describes the inequality between classes.

48. More States have perished from the depravity of customs than from the violation of laws

A State is due to its customs and people.

49. The man of talent is naturally inclined to criticism, because he sees more things than other men and he sees them better.

With this phrase the thinker intends to describe how the intelligence.

50. I would like to abolish undertakers. You have to mourn men when they are born and not when they die

Peculiar way of criticizing the funeral ritual.

51. The heads of the greatest men shrink when they meet

It's not always a good combination when brilliant minds come together. It falls into the homogenization of discourse.

52. The Christian religion, which seems to have only the happiness of the afterlife as its aim, also makes us happy in this one.

With this phrase a good description of what religion can mean is made.

53. The study has been for me the main remedy against the worries of life

Reading, studying and checking is the best remedy for ignorance.

54. Talent is a gift that God gives us in secret, and that we reveal without knowing it.

That is why it is called a gift, because we practice it without conscience.

55. In clothing one should always keep below one's own resources.

Many of his reflections addressed everyday issues, customs and social conventions.

56. The one who, being angry, imposes a punishment, he does not correct, but takes revenge

A very true phrase that is still fully valid today.

57. I have never had a sadness that an hour of reading could not dispel.

A piece of advice that we can follow with the aim of improving the quality of life.

58. The passion of most French people is to have wit; and the passion of those who want to have wit is to write books

No one described the nature of the French people in his time like Montesquieu.

59. In order to judge great and noble things, it is necessary to possess a soul that is equally great and noble.

Only those who possess nobility of spirit are capable of achieving the greatest milestones.

60. We men brag about being meaner than we really are.

An example of Montesquieu's many reflections on the male sex.

61. I have always observed that to succeed in life you have to be understood, but appear foolish

Many of Montesquieu's phrases are truly hilarious and even so they hide messages of great value.

62. Men end up getting used to everything, even to servitude, as long as the master is not harder than servitude itself.

Montesquieu knew how to portray the human nature of his time perfectly, both the positive and negative traits.

63. Nothing could be imagined in a worse way; it seemed that nature had arranged that the nonsense of men were temporary, but books make them immortal

A phrase that still makes much more sense today.

64. I don't find myself where I look for myself. I find myself by surprise when I least expect it

Sometimes we discover things about ourselves that we were unaware of.

65. Bankers are called upon to take advances, their art is to profit from their funds without being accused of usury

Montesquieu profusely criticized what he considered to be the injustices of his time.