Benjamin Constant 1767 – 1830
Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque was a Swiss-French political philosopher, novelist, and statesman and one of the founding theorists of modern liberalism. After an erratic early career and a long and famous association with Madame de Stael, he served in the French legislature under the Restoration and the July Monarchy. His Principles of Politics and his lecture The Liberty of the Ancients Compared with that of the Moderns drew the now classic distinction between political participation as the freedom of the ancients and the security of private enjoyments as the freedom of the moderns. His novel Adolphe is one of the great works of early French Romanticism.
Key facts
- Nationality
- Swiss-French
- Era
- Modern
- Movements
- Political
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Benjamin Constant:
“The liberty of the ancients was the active sharing in collective sovereignty; the liberty of the moderns is the security of private enjoyments.”
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Attributed to Benjamin Constant:
“Modern man can no longer be a citizen in the ancient sense.”
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Attributed to Benjamin Constant:
“Government has no right except for the maintenance of order.”
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Attributed to Benjamin Constant:
“The variety of opinion is at least as necessary as the variety of bread.”
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Attributed to Benjamin Constant:
“Religion accompanies man through the storms of life.”