All the Secrets of the Universe and Some Really Important Stuff Too!
Aphorisms, proverbs, wise sayings and other witty, pithy stuff
To prevent this abuse, it is necessary that, by the arrangement of things, power shall stop power. A government may be so constituted, as no man shall be compelled to do things to which the law does not oblige him, nor forced to abstain from things which the law permits.
Charles de Montesquieu
Democratic and aristocratic states are not in their own nature free. Political liberty is to be found only in moderate governments; and even in these it is not always found. It is there only when there is no abuse of power. But constant experience shows us that every man who has power is inclined to abuse it; he goes until he finds limits. Is it not strange, though true, to say that virtue itself has need of limits?
Charles de Montesquieu
Horace and Aristotle told us of the virtues of their fathers, and the vices of their own time, and authors down through the centuries have told us the same. If they were right, men would now be bears.
Charles de Montesquieu
I have always observed that to succeed in the world one should appear like a fool but be wise.
Charles de Montesquieu
The success of most things depends upon knowing how long it will take to succeed.
Charles de Montesquieu
Raillery is a mode of speaking in favor of one’s wit at the expense of one’s better nature.
Charles de Montesquieu
I have read descriptions of Paradise that would make any sensible person stop wanting to go there.
Charles de Montesquieu
There are only two cases in which war is just: first, in order to resist the aggression of an enemy, and second, in order to help an ally who has been attacked.
Charles de Montesquieu
There is only one thing that can form a bond between men, and that is gratitude…we cannot give someone else greater power over us than we have ourselves.
Charles de Montesquieu
“Of all kind of authors there are none I despise more than compilers, who search everywhere for shreds of other men’s works, which they join to their own, like so many pieces of green turf in a garden: they are not at all superior to compositors in a printing house, who range the types, which, collected together, make a book, towards which they contribute nothing but the labours of the hand. I would have original writers respected, and it seems to me a kind of profanation to take those pieces from the sanctuary in which they reside, and to expose them to a contempt they do not deserve. When a man hath nothing new to say, why does not he hold his tongue? What business have we with this double employment?”
Charles de Montesquieu
Editor’s note: Sacre bleu, he means me!
(photog)