Baron de Montesquieu , Charles-Louis de Secondat (1689 – 1755), is surely one of the most relevant thinkers of the 18th century in Western Europe. Following the family tradition, he graduated in law and later became a councillor in the parliament of Bordeaux for more than a decade.

His thinking and ideological current was somewhat controversial. Defender of civil and political rights, he also had loud ovations for the despotic system of the Old Regime, as well as defending the monarchical (liberal) system as the most balanced model to guarantee progress and stability in a society.

Montesquieu’s most outstanding phrases

In this section we review the 54 most famous quotes of the frank thinker. The following are Montesquieu’s best quotes .

1. In order to prevent abuse of power, power must stop power

Montesquieu advocated control mechanisms to prevent this phenomenon.

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

Freedom is what shapes civilizations.

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

Throughout history, man has demonstrated his eagerness to excel.

4. Divorce is indispensable in modern civilizations

With this phrase, so modern 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

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

6. When a government lasts a long time, it slowly decomposes without being noticed

Too much time in power wears away at its legitimacy.

7. If triangles made a God, they would think of him with three sides

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

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

Excellent way to put forward what life means.

9. The law must be like death, which does not exempt anyone

Justice was a fundamental pillar for the author.

10. An injustice done to the individual is a threat done to all of 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

Tough and eloquent criticism of what sport represented at that time, similar to the current one.

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

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

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

Sometimes, politics are not exercised with laws, as these can be unjust.

14. When you look so hard for a way to make yourself fearful, you always find the way to make yourself hate first

Power is often 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

This 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, a certain defence to the war action can be deduced.

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; women, therefore, make the laws

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

19. Useless laws weaken necessary laws

It’s an evil that doesn’t seem to have been elucidated.

20. Most impressive: not talking about things until after they are done

It’s usually a common mistake in ignorant people.

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

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

22. When death has equaled fortunes, undertakers should not differentiate between them

Excellent contribution to explain class consciousness.

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

Laws emanate from the will of the people.

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

Measured ambition can become a virtue.

25. Our life seems to increase when we can put it into the memory of others

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

26. Truth at one time is error at another time

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

27. You have to study a lot to know little

Sometimes it is better to specialize in one area than to know everything and everything wrong.

28. Happy the people whose history is read with boredom

Is boredom an indispensable variable for achieving happiness?

29. Give man the opportunity to be unjust, and he will not waste it

In some cases Montesquieu was skeptical about the nature of human beings.

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 governing a society

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

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

With this sentence 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 the rights in a just society.

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

Funny way to describe the way a man should love a woman.

35. To be successful in the world, one must seem crazy and be wise

Most of mankind’s geniuses were peculiar characters.

36. Normally, those who have great talent are naive

The good speaker is not always a great thinker.

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

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

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

Excellent sentence to contrast two indispensable concepts in a society.

39. Freedom is the right to do what the law allows

For Montesquieu, outside the law there is only despotism.

40. The breakdown of all government begins with the decline of the principles on which it was founded

It is only when principles are betrayed that one is bound to fail.

41. When societies are born, it is the heads of State who give them their special character

The figure of a country’s highest authority has enormous responsibilities.

42. If a citizen had the right to do what is prohibited by these provisions, it would no longer be freedom, since anyone else would have the same right

This sentence is yet another defense of the law.

43. It is this special character that forms the heads of state

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

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

The human being constantly falls into this error of comparing himself with others.

45. If it were enough for us to be happy, it 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 takes to achieve it

Success lies 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 through depravity of custom than through violation of the law

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 sees them better

With this phrase the thinker intends to describe how intelligence can manifest itself.

50. I would like to abolish undertakers. Men should be mourned when they are born and no longer when they die

Peculiar way of criticizing the funeral ritual.

51. The heads of larger men shrink when they meet

It’s not always a good combination when brilliant minds meet. It falls into the homogenization of speech.

52. The Christian religion, which seems to have as its object nothing but the happiness of the afterlife, makes us happy in this one too

This sentence is a good description of what religion can entail.

53. Study has been for me the main remedy against life’s worries

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

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

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