Montesquieu Quotes on Virtue
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 virtue, 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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Attributed to Montesquieu:
“Constant happiness is the sign of a man who has learned to be self-sufficient.”
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Attributed to Montesquieu:
“Mankind has been corrupted, and an admirable lesson is given by the law that obliges the rulers themselves to obey it.”
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“No tyranny is more cruel than the one practiced in the shadow of the laws and under color of justice — when, so to speak, one proceeds to drown the unfortunate on the very plank by which they had saved themselves. See Chap. XIV of Considérations sur les causes de la grandeur des Romains et de leur décadence . Considerations on the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and their Decline (1734), p. 89. Quoted in Steve Sheppard, I Do Solemnly Swear: The Moral Obligations of Legal Officials (2009), preface - xxiv.”
Il n’y a point de plus cruelle tyrannie que celle que l’on exerce à l’ombre des lois et avec les couleurs de la justice, lorsqu’on va, pour ainsi dire, noyer des malheureux sur la planche même sur laquelle ils s’étaient sauvés.