Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989.
| NUMBER: | 1606 |
| AUTHOR: | Charles Louis de Secondat Montesquieu (1689–1755) |
| QUOTATION: | If I knew something useful to me and harmful to my family, I should put it out of my mind. If I knew something useful to my family and not to my country, I should try to forget it. If I knew something useful to my country and harmful to Europe, or useful to Europe and harmful to the human race, I should consider it a crime. |
| ATTRIBUTION: | Before giving this translation, Loy says, “Montesquieu was so fond of the passage that he composed it in several forms; it stands as his philosophical emblem.” For the original French, see Montesquieu, Oeuvres Completes, p. 981 (1949). |
| SUBJECTS: | Responsibility |