102 Quotes by Montesquieu

A man who writes well writes not as others write, but as he himself writes; it is often in speaking badly that he speaks well.

La liberté est le droit de faire ce que les lois permettent.

For myself, I would rather not write history than write it for the purpose of following the prejudices and passions of the times.Here, someone makes the Capetians descend from the Merovingians; there, someone else has it that the name very Christian has always been applied to the {French} princes.They don't form a system after reading history; they begin with the system and then search for the proofs.

C est le tyran qui m outrage, et non pas celui qui exerce la tyrannie

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

To become truly great, one has to stand with people, not above them.

The less men think, the more they talk.

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

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.