Author: A fool who, not content with having bored those who have lived with him, insists on tormenting generations to come.
Interpretation
Some individuals not only burden those around them with their negativity but also leave a lasting impact on future generations.
This quote by Montesquieu highlights the tendency of certain people to be intolerable, extending their negative influence beyond their immediate circle to affect future generations. It suggests that a foolish person can sap the joy and interest of those around them and, through their written works or actions, persistently challenge the enjoyment of posterity, emphasizing the importance of personal responsibility and the impact of one's legacy.
In practice
In a speech about the impact of literature, one might quote Montesquieu to illustrate how some works shape society long after the author is gone.
When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person, or in the same body of magistrates, there can be no liberty; because apprehensions may arise, lest the same monarch or senate should enact tyrannical laws, to execute them in a tyrannical manner.
Man, as a physical being, is like other bodies governed by invariable laws.
In bodies moved, the motion is received, increased, diminished, or lost, according to the relations of the quantity of matter and velocity; each diversity is uniformity, each change is constancy.
Raillery is a mode of speaking in favor of one's wit at the expense of one's better nature.
Liberty is the right of doing whatever the laws permit.
The law of nations is naturally founded on this principle, that different nations ought in time of peace to do one another all the good they can, and in time of war as little injury as possible, without prejudicing their real interests.
Begin, be bold, and venture to be wise,_x000D_ _x000D_ He who defers this work from day to day,_x000D_ _x000D_ Does on a river's bank expecting stay,_x000D_ _x000D_ Till the whole stream, which stopped him, should be gone,_x000D_ _x000D_ That runs, and as it runs, for ever will run on.
Mistakes wreck your life. But they make what you have. It's kind of all one. You know what Hester told me when we were working the sheep one time? She said it's no good to complain about your flock, because it's the put-together of all your past choices.
If you've been playing poker for half an hour and you still don't know who the patsy is, you're the patsy.
Solitude is the best nurse of wisdom.
Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before.
When making a decision of minor importance, I have always found it advantageous to consider all the pros and cons.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.