WIST Quotations https://wist.info Wish I'd Said That! Mon, 17 Aug 2026 23:39:29 +0000 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.4 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.4 https://wist.info/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/little-w-little-box-60x60.jpg interesting times – WIST Quotations https://wist.info 32 32 43606282 Montesquieu -- (Attributed) https://wist.info/montesquieu/84855/ https://wist.info/montesquieu/84855/#respond Mon, 06 Jul 2026 22:39:47 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=84855 Happy the people whose annals are tiresome.

[Heureux le peuple dont l’histoire est ennuyeuse.]


Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689–1755) French political philosopher
(Attributed)

The phrase is widely attributed to Montesquieu, but not found as such in his works. The earliest use of it in those words is in Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution, Book 2, ch. 1 (1837).

Variants:
  • "Happy the people whose history is boring."
  • "Happy the nation whose history is dull."
  • "Happy the nation whose history is tedious."
  • "Happy the people whose annals are vacant." [Also from Carlyle, as an extreme of the attributed Montesquieu quote.]
  • "Happy the people whose annals are blank in history-books!"
See also Franklin (1740).

The phrase is the complement to the (spurious) Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times." ]]> https://wist.info/montesquieu/84855/feed/ 0 84855 Franklin, Benjamin -- Poor Richard (1740 ed.) https://wist.info/franklin-benjamin/76844/ https://wist.info/franklin-benjamin/76844/#comments Thu, 12 Jun 2025 15:05:21 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=76844 Happy that nation, fortunate that age, whose history is not diverting.


Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1740 ed.)
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