Marquis de Condorcet Quotes
Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas de Caritat, Marquis de Condorcet, was a French philosopher, mathematician, and political theorist of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution. A pioneer of probability theory and social mathematics, he produced the first systematic argument for the indefinite progress of the human mind. The quotes below are attributed to Marquis de Condorcet, organized by topic.
Browse Marquis de Condorcet by topic
Marquis de Condorcet on Freedom
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Attributed to Marquis de Condorcet:
“Reason has its rights, and the rights of reason are imprescriptible.”
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Attributed to Marquis de Condorcet:
“Time is at hand when the sun will shine only on free men, who acknowledge no other master than reason.”
Marquis de Condorcet on Justice
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Attributed to Marquis de Condorcet:
“Whatever advances the rights of any human being is a blessing for all human beings.”
Marquis de Condorcet on Knowledge
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Attributed to Marquis de Condorcet:
“The progress of the human mind is indefinite.”
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“Enjoy your life without comparing to that of others. It is enough for you to know that you are good, without examining whether others are as good as you.”
Advice to his daughter (written in hiding March 1794), quoted in Lukes, S., & Urbinati, N. (Eds.). (2012). Condorcet: Political Writings (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139108119
Marquis de Condorcet on Mind
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“Advice to his daughter (written in hiding March 1794), quoted in Lukes, S., & Urbinati, N. (Eds.). (2012). Condorcet: Political Writings (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139108119”
Enjoy your life without comparing to that of others. It is enough for you to know that you are good, without examining whether others are as good as you. -
“Sketch for a Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human Mind , 1794 (New York: The Noonday Press, 1955) p.102.”
Has not printing freed the education of the people from all political and religious shackles? It would be vain for any despotism to invade all the schools ... The instruction that every man is free to receive from books in silence and solitude can never be completely corrupted. It is enough for there to exist one corner of free earth from which the press can scatter its leaves. How with the multit
Marquis de Condorcet on Politics
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Attributed to Marquis de Condorcet:
“All the errors in politics and morals are based on philosophical errors.”