Montesquieu Quotes on Mind
Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, was a French philosopher and one of the architects of Enlightenment political thought. This page collects quotes attributed to Montesquieu on the topic of mind, drawn from across the philosopher's works.
Quotes
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“In a free nation, it matters not whether individuals reason well or ill; it is sufficient that they do reason. Truth arises from the collision and from hence springs liberty, which is a security from the effects of reasoning.”
Quoted by Thomas Erskine in the trial of Thomas Paine , 1792 -
“Do you think that God will punish them for not practicing a religion which he did not reveal to them?”
Lettres Persanes(Persian Letters, 1721) | No. 35. (Usbek writing to Gemchid) -
“History is full of religious wars; but, we must take care to observe, it was not the multiplicity of religions that produced these wars, it was the intolerating spirit which animated that one which thought she had the power of governing.”
Lettres Persanes(Persian Letters, 1721) | No. 65. (Usbek writing to his wives) -
“I acknowledge that history is full of religious wars : but we must distinguish; it is not the multiplicity of religions which has produced wars; it is the intolerant spirit animating that which believed itself in the ascendant.”
Lettres Persanes(Persian Letters, 1721) | No. 86. (Usbek writing to Mirza)