Charles de Secondat Quotations

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.

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.

When the body of the people is possessed of the supreme power, it is called a democracy.

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

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.

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.

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

Although born in a prosperous realm, we did not believe that its boundaries should limit our knowledge, and that the lore of the East should alone enlighten us.

There is only one thing that can form a bond between men, and that is gratitude... we cannot give someone else greater power over us than we have ourselves.

Society is the union of men and not the men themselves.