38 Quotes by Charles de Secondat

A man should be mourned at his birth, not at his death.

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.

People here argue about religion interminably, but it appears that they are competing at the same time to see who can be the least devout.

Each particular society begins to feel its strength, whence arises a state of war between different nations.

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.

God is related to the universe, as Creator and Preserver; the laws by which He created all things are those by which He preserves them.