# Montesquieu quote translation

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/montesquieu-quote-translation/136355>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 12, 2002, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/montesquieu-quote-translation/136355 "2002-11-12T02:09:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Motog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@Motog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motog)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2002, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/montesquieu-quote-translation/136355/1 "2002-11-12T02:09:50Z")

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This is going to sound terribly pretentious, but here goes:

I’m in the middle of reading an english translation of the “Analects of Confucius”. In the introduction the translator uses the following “famous statement” from Montesquieu without giving an english translation:

> [@](#):
>
> Quand un peuple a de bonnes moers, le lois deviennent simples

Unfortunately its fame hasn’t spread as far as me.

Anybody out there able to provide an english translation please?

I’ve tried Google to no avail

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**Author:** ![Opus1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/858c86/32.png) [@Opus1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Opus1)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2002, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/montesquieu-quote-translation/136355/2 "2002-11-12T03:13:31Z")

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Despite having taken only a year of college French, I’m pretty sure this translates to “When people have good morals, the laws become simple.”

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**Author:** ![Motog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@Motog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motog)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2002, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/montesquieu-quote-translation/136355/3 "2002-11-12T03:43:37Z")

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**Opus 1** that certainly fits the context, thanks.

BTW, it’s 2:30 in the afternoon here so it must be some ungodly hour in Tuscon. What on earth are you doing reading SDMB at that time?

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**Author:** ![chula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a4c791/32.png) [@chula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chula)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2002, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/montesquieu-quote-translation/136355/4 "2002-11-12T05:22:44Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Motog \*  
> \*\*BTW, it’s 2:30 in the afternoon here so it must be some ungodly hour in Tuscon. What on earth are you doing reading SDMB at that time? \*\*

From what I can see, it was 7:13 p.m. when **Opus1** posted. Oh wait, there’s no daylight savings in Arizona so maybe it was 6:13. I’m an insomniac and post at unusual hours, and thankfully no one’s ever asked me to explain why I’m up.

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**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2002, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/montesquieu-quote-translation/136355/5 "2002-11-12T06:19:51Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Opus1 \*  
> \*\*Despite having taken only a year of college French, I’m pretty sure this translates to “When people have good morals, the laws become simple.” \*\*

Close, but not quite. My take would be, “When a people has good habits, laws become simple.”

The differences here are, _un peuple_, which refers to a specific group of people, not just people in general, and _moeurs_ which means something like habit or custom rather than morals. Of course, having the former somewhat implies the later, so in that sense your translation isn’t that far off the mark.

Incidently, there were a few typos in the original quote, it should read:

> [@](#):
>
> Quand un peuple a de bonnes _moeurs_, _les_ lois deviennent simples.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Motog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@Motog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motog)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2002, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/montesquieu-quote-translation/136355/6 "2002-11-12T07:03:37Z")

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**Jovan**

Thanks - both for your analysis and the correction of my typos.

The Montesquieu quote was used by the author to reinforce the Confucian view that “The true cohesion of a society is secured not through legal rules but through ritual observances”. The commentator was trying to support the view that this should include not just ‘rites’ but “also ‘moeurs’, ‘civilized usages’, ‘moral conventions’ and even ‘common decency’”. This certainly seems to fit with the translation offered by both yourself and **Opus 1**