193 Quotes by Baron de Montesquieu

Virtue has needs of limits.

Luxury ruins republics; poverty, monarchies.

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.

The less men think, the more they talk.

The deterioration of every government begins with the decay of the principles on which it was founded.

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.

Sometimes a man who deserves to be looked upon because he is a fool is despised only because he is a lawyer.

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

The wickedness of mankind makes it necessary for the law to suppose them better than they really are.