Montesquieu Quotes on Time
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 time, drawn from across the philosopher's works.
Quotes
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Attributed to Montesquieu:
“The deterioration of every government begins with the decay of the principles on which it was founded.”
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“People here argue about religion interminably, but it appears that they are competing at the same time to see who can be the least devout.”
Lettres Persanes(Persian Letters, 1721) | No. 46. (Usbek writing to Rhedi) -
“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) -
“Commonly paraphrased as "An author is a fool who, not content with having bored those who have lived with him, insists on boring future generations".”
Lettres Persanes(Persian Letters, 1721)