Quote

Human laws made to direct the will ought to give precepts, and not counsels.

Baron de Montesquieu

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Baron de Montesquieu
Made
Laws
Direct
Ought
Law
Give
Human
Humans
Counsels
Giving
Precepts

More quotes by Baron de Montesquieu

Image
An author is a fool who, not content with boring those he lives with, insists on boring future generations.
Baron de Montesquieu
Image
When a government is arrived to that degree of corruption as to be incapable of reforming itself, it would not lose much by being new moulded.
Baron de Montesquieu
Image
Every man who has power is impelled to abuse it.
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
The prejudices of superstition are superior to all others, and have the strongest influence on the human mind.
Baron de Montesquieu
Image
The Ottoman Empire whose sick body was not supported by a mild and regular diet, but by a powerful treatment, which continually exhausted it.
Baron de Montesquieu
Image
Society is the union of men and not the men themselves.
Baron de Montesquieu
Image
Vanity and pride of nations vanity is as advantageous to a government as pride is dangerous.
Baron de Montesquieu
Image
Solemnity is the shield of idiots
Baron de Montesquieu
Image
In republican governments, men are all equal equal they are also in despotic governments: in the former, because they are everything in the latter, because they are nothing.
Baron de Montesquieu
Image
When God endowed human beings with brains, He did not intend to guarantee them.
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
Men should be bewailed at their birth, and not at their death.
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
The spirit of commerce... renders every man willing to live on his own property...& prevents the growth of luxury.
Baron de Montesquieu
Image
I never listen to calumnies, because if they are untrue I run the risk of being deceived, and if they be true, of hating persons not worth thinking about.
Baron de Montesquieu
Image
Slowness is frequently the cause of much greater slowness.
Baron de Montesquieu
Image
Success in the majority of circumstances depends on knowing how long it takes to succeed.
Baron de Montesquieu
Image
A fondness for reading changes the inevitable dull hours of our life into exquisite hours of delight.
Baron de Montesquieu
Image
What unhappy beings men are! They constantly waver between false hopes and silly fears, and instead of relying on reason they create monsters to frighten themselves with, and phantoms which lead them astray.
Baron de Montesquieu