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
Not to be loved is a misfortune, but it is an insult to be loved no longer.
I have always observed that to succeed in the world one should appear like a fool but be wise.
I have read descriptions of Paradise that would make any sensible person stop wanting to go there.
You have to study a great deal to know a little.
In bodies moved, the motion is received, increased, diminished, or lost, according to the relations of the quantity of matter and velocity; each diversity is uniformity, each change is constancy.
The deterioration of a government begins almost always by the decay of its principles.
The object of war is victory; that of victory is conquest; and that of conquest preservation.
There are three species of government: republican, monarchical, and despotic.
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.
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.
When the body of the people is possessed of the supreme power, it is called a democracy.
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.
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.
When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person, or in the same body of magistrates, there can be no liberty; because apprehensions may arise, lest the same monarch or senate should enact tyrannical laws, to execute them in a tyrannical manner.