Montesquieu

Who was Montesquieu?

Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu, generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French social commentator and political thinker 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 did more than any other author to secure the place of the word despotism in the political lexicon, and may have been partly responsible for the popularization of the terms feudalism and Byzantine Empire.

Famous Quotes:

• Friendship is an arrangement by which we undertake to exchange small favors for big ones.
• Lunch kills half of Paris, supper the other half.
• We should weep for men at their birth, not at their death.
• Success in the majority of circumstances depends on knowing how long it takes to succeed.
• There is no nation so powerful, as the one that obeys its laws not from principals of fear or reason, but from passion.
• The spirit of moderation should also be the spirit of the lawgiver.
• What orators lack in depth, they make up to you in length.
• If one only wished to be happy, this could be easily accomplished; but we wish to be happier that other people, and this is always difficult, for we believe others to be happier than they are.
• Useless laws weaken the necessary laws.
• It is always the adventurers who do great things, not the sovereigns of great empires.