Charles de Secondat
Charles de Secondat
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
They who assert that a blind fatality produced the various effects we behold in this world talk very absurdly; for can anything be more unreasonable than to pretend that a blind fatality could be productive of intelligent beings?
Thus the creation, which seems an arbitrary act, supposes laws as invariable as those of the fatality of the Atheists. It would be absurd to say that the Creator might govern the world without those rules, since without them it could not subsist.
The state of slavery is in its own nature bad.
Raillery is a mode of speaking in favor of one's wit at the expense of one's better nature.
The success of most things depends upon knowing how long it will take to succeed.
Man, as a physical being, is like other bodies governed by invariable laws.
As soon as man enters into a state of society he loses the sense of his weakness; equality ceases, and then commences the state of war.
There are only two cases in which war is just: first, in order to resist the aggression of an enemy, and second, in order to help an ally who has been attacked.
When the body of the people is possessed of the supreme power, it is called a democracy.
Each particular society begins to feel its strength, whence arises a state of war between different nations.
People here argue about religion interminably, but it appears that they are competing at the same time to see who can be the least devout.
Law in general is human reason, inasmuch as it governs all the inhabitants of the earth: the political and civil laws of each nation ought to be only the particular cases in which human reason is applied.
A man should be mourned at his birth, not at his death.
Although born in a prosperous realm, we did not believe that its boundaries should limit our knowledge, and that the lore of the East should alone enlighten us.