Montesquieu 1689 – 1755
Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, was a French philosopher and one of the architects of Enlightenment political thought. His Persian Letters satirized European customs through the eyes of imagined Persian travelers, while The Spirit of the Laws, the labor of two decades, articulated a sweeping comparative theory of forms of government and the conditions under which political liberty can flourish. His central thesis, that the powers of legislation, execution, and judgment ought to be separated, shaped the constitutional thinking of the American founders and the French Revolution alike.
Key facts
- Nationality
- French
- Era
- Modern
- Movements
- Enlightenment, Political
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Montesquieu:
“Liberty is the right to do what the laws permit.”
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Attributed to Montesquieu:
“Useless laws weaken the necessary laws.”
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Attributed to Montesquieu:
“There is no nation so powerful as the one that obeys its laws.”
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Attributed to Montesquieu:
“The deterioration of every government begins with the decay of the principles on which it was founded.”
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Attributed to Montesquieu:
“Constant happiness is the sign of a man who has learned to be self-sufficient.”