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
Lunch kills half of Paris, supper the other half.
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.
There is no nation so powerful, as the one that obeys its laws not from principals of fear or reason, but from passion.
There should be weeping at a man's birth, not at his death.
The less men think, the more they talk.
Friendship is an arrangement by which we undertake to exchange small favors for big ones.
In most things success depends on knowing how long it takes to succeed.
False happiness renders men stern and proud, and that happiness is never communicated. True happiness renders them kind and sensible, and that happiness is always shared.
The sublimity of administration consists in knowing the proper degree of power that should be exerted on different occasions.