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Montesquieu Quotes

Browse 12 quotes about Montesquieu.

Montesquieu Quotes

“Montesquieu had the style of a genius; Buffon, the genius of style.”

Style Genius Buffon Montesquieu

Author:Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm

“There is no error so monstrous that it fails to find defenders among the ablest men. Imagine a congress of eminent celebrities, such as More, Bacon, Grotius, Pascal, Cromwell, Bossuet, Montesquieu, Jefferson, Napoleon, Pitt, etc. The result would be an Encyclopedia of Error.”

Men Would Be Results Imagine Failing Errors Congress Etc Monstrous Defenders Encyclopedia Pascal Cromwell Montesquieu

Author:Lord Acton

“After Montesquieu, the next great addition to Sociology (which is the term I may be allowed to invent to designate Social Physics) was made by Condorcet, proceeding on the views suggested by his illustrious friend Turgot.”

May Made Next Social Term Views Physics Sociology Proceeding Montesquieu

Book:The Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte

Source: The Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte

“A father of the church said that property was theft, many centuries before Proudhon was born. Bourdaloue reaffirmed it. Montesquieu was the inventor of national workshops and of the theory that the state owed every man a living. Nay, was not the church herself the first organized democracy?”

Men Firsts Said States Father Born Church Democracy Century Theory Property Every Man Organized Theft Inventor Workshops Montesquieu

Book:Books and Libraries: Democracy, and Other Papers

Source: Books and Libraries: Democracy, and Other Papers

“The lively phraseology of Montesquieu was the result of long meditation. His words, as light as wings, bear on them grave reflections.”

Long Light Results Meditation Style Bears Reflection Wings Graves Lively Montesquieu

Book:Pensées of Joubert

Source: Pensées of Joubert

“[Montesquieu] lifted the veil from the venerable errors which enslaved opinion, and pointed the way to those luminous truths of which he had but a glimpse himself.”

Way Opinion Errors Glimpse Veils Luminous Montesquieu

Book:1829-1836

Source: 1829-1836

“Montesquieu well knew, and justly admired, the happy constitution of this country [Great Britain], where fixed and known laws equally restrain monarchy from tyranny and liberty from licentiousness.”

Wells Country Law Known Liberty Constitution Tyranny Fixed Britain Monarchy Great Britain Montesquieu

Author:Lord Chesterfield

“The late Président de Montesquieu told me that he knew how to be blind--he had been so for such a long time--but I swear that I do not know how to be deaf: I cannot get used to it, and I am as humiliated and distressed by it today as I was during the first week. No philosophy in the world can palliate deafness.”

Knows World Firsts Long Philosophy Today Used Know How Week Late Long Time Blind Swear Blindness Deaf Humiliated Deafness Montesquieu

Author:Lord Chesterfield

“Jefferson, Madison and many others taught that complex laws and codes were sure signs of oppression. They agreed with Montesquieu, Lock and Hume and that laws must be simple....and indeed that the entire legal code must be simple enough that every citizen knows the entire law. If a person doesn't know the law....he shouldn't be held liable for breaking it or freedom is greatly reduced.”

Ifs Knows Persons Enough Law Simple Taught Citizens Complexes Oppression Code Locks Liable Madison Hume Montesquieu

Author:Oliver DeMille

“Many a person who could not comprehend Rousseau, and would be puzzled by Montesquieu, could understand Paine as an open book. He wrote with a clarity, a sharpness of outline and exactness of speech that even a schoolboy should be able to grasp.”

Should Persons Book Would Be Able Speech Clarity Outlines Puzzled Open Book Sharpness Exactness Paine Montesquieu

Author:Thomas A. Edison

“[John] Adams identified himself with the political theories of [James] Harrington, [John] Locke, and [Charles-Louis] Montesquieu, whose ideas of constitutionalism, he believed, were applicable to all peoples everywhere; they were his contribution to what he called "the divine science of politics."”

Ideas Political Divine Theory Contribution Political Theory Montesquieu Constitutionalism

Author:Gordon S. Wood

“We may like well to know what is Plato’s and what is Montesquieu’s or Goethe’s part, and what thought was always dear to the writer himself; but the worth of the sentences consists in their radiancy and equal aptitude to all intelligence. They fit all our facts like a charm. We respect ourselves the more that we know them.”

Knows Wells May Facts Fit Equal Dear Sentences Charm Plato Aptitude Plato S Montesquieu

Book:Delphi Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Illustrated)

Source: Delphi Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Illustrated)