Quote

Men, who are rogues individually, are in the mass very honorable people.

Baron de Montesquieu

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Baron de Montesquieu
Teamwork
Honorable
Mass
Men
People
Rogues
Individually

More quotes by Baron de Montesquieu

Image
We must have constantly present in our minds the difference between independence and liberty. Liberty is a right of doing whatever the laws permit, and if a citizen could do what they forbid he would no longer be possessed of liberty.
Baron de Montesquieu
Image
Those who have few affairs to attend to are great speakers. The less men think, the more they talk.
Baron de Montesquieu
Image
An empire founded by war has to maintain itself by war.
Baron de Montesquieu
Image
The life of man is but a succession of vain hopes and groundless fears.
Baron de Montesquieu
Image
Men in excess of happiness or misery are equally inclined to severity. Witness conquerors and monks! It is mediocrity alone, and a mixture of prosperous and adverse fortune that inspire us with lenity and pity.
Baron de Montesquieu
Image
Knowledge humanizes mankind, and reason inclines to mildness but prejudices eradicate every tender disposition.
Baron de Montesquieu
Image
There are countries where a man is worth nothing there are others where he is worth less than nothing.
Baron de Montesquieu
Image
Useless laws weaken the necessary laws.
Baron de Montesquieu
Image
The sublimity of administration consists in knowing the proper degree of power that should be exerted on different occasions.
Baron de Montesquieu
Image
Sometimes a man who deserves to be looked upon because he is a fool is despised only because he is a lawyer.
Baron de Montesquieu
Image
The wickedness of mankind makes it necessary for the law to suppose them better than they really are.
Baron de Montesquieu
Image
Honor sets all the parts of the body politic in motion, and by its very action connects them thus each individual advances the public good, while he only thinks of promoting his own interest.
Baron de Montesquieu
Image
As men are affected in all ages by the same passions, the occasions which bring about great changes are different, but the causes are always the same.
Baron de Montesquieu
Image
Nature is just to all mankind, and repays them for their industry. She renders them industrious by annexing rewards in proportion to their labor.
Baron de Montesquieu
Image
Great commanders write their actions with simplicity because they receive more glory from facts than from words.
Baron de Montesquieu
Image
Success in the majority of circumstances depends on knowing how long it takes to succeed.
Baron de Montesquieu
Image
Man, as a physical being, is like other bodies governed by invariable laws.
Baron de Montesquieu
Image
A good writer does not write as people write, but as he writes.
Baron de Montesquieu
Image
The false notion of miracles comes of our vanity, which makes us believe we are important enough for the Supreme Being to upset nature on our behalf.
Baron de Montesquieu
Image
There is still another inconvenieney in conquests made by democracies their government is ever odious to the conquered states. It is apparently monarchical, but in reality it is more oppressive than monarchy, as the experience of all ages and countries evinces.
Baron de Montesquieu