Charles de Montesquieu
Charles de Montesquieu
Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu, generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French lawyer, man of letters, and political philosopher who lived during the Age of Enlightenment. He is famous for his articulation of the theory of separation of powers, which is implemented in many constitutions throughout the world. He is also known for doing more than any other author to secure the place of the word despotism in the political lexicon...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth18 January 1689
CountryFrance
The sublimity of administration consists in knowing the proper degree of power that should be exerted on different occasions.
An author is a fool who, not content with boring those he lives with, insists on boring future generations.
If the triangles made a god, they would give him three sides.
Talent is a gift which God has given us secretly, and which we reveal without perceiving it.
It is always the adventurers who do great things, not the sovereigns of great empires.
We should weep for men at their birth, not at their death.
Liberty is the right to do what the law permits.
A nation may lose its liberties in a day and not miss them in a century.
What orators lack in depth they make up for in length.
In the infancy of societies, the chiefs of state shape its institutions; later the institutions shape the chiefs of state.
The severity of the laws prevents their execution.
Countries are well cultivated, not as they are fertile, but as they are free.
There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetuated under the shield of law and in the name of justice.
No kingdom has shed more blood than the kingdom of Christ.