Montesquieu definition

Montesquieu. Not at all. I would say to you that I have employed a great deal of my time here examining the strengths and weaknesses of these arrangements; I am well informed about what concerns the conditions of existence of the press in the parliamentary countries. You must know that journalism is a kind of Freemasonry: those who live in it are more or less attached to each other by the links of professional discretion; just like the ancient augurs, they do not easily divulge the secrets of their oracles. They gain nothing by betraying them, because for the most part they have more or less shameful secrets. It is quite probable, I agree, that in the center of the capital, in a certain circle of people, things would not be a mystery; but everywhere else, one would not suspect anything, and the large majority of the nation would march with the most complete confidence along the guided routes that I will have provided.
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Montesquieu. As we advance, I see that your government becomes more and more paternal. These would almost be patriarchal judicial customs. In fact, it seems impossible to me that one would not keep in mind a solicitude that would be shown for so many [of your] ingenuous forms. Machiavelli: Nevertheless, here you are be obliged to recognize that I am far from the barbarous governmental proceedings that you seemed to attribute to me at the beginning of this discussion. You see that violence would play no role in all this; I would place my support where everyone does today: in the law. Montesquieu: In the strongest law. Machiavelli: The law that makes itself obeyed is always the strongest law; I do not know any exception to this rule.
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Examples of Montesquieu in a sentence

  • This remarkable (remarkably indirect) way of interrogating the real or actual present -- France as it was in 1864 -- is neatly reflected or paralleled by the facts that 1), though Machiavelli lived two centuries before Montesquieu, it is the Florentine who envisions the "future" (the potential present), while it is the Frenchman who looks back to the "past"; and 2) Montesquieu has no idea of what year it is, and no idea what took place in France between 1847 and 1864, while Machiavelli does.

  • Montesquieu: Your critique is quite just, I agree, but since the Council of State would be an excellent institution in itself, nothing could be easier than giving it the necessary independence by isolating it -- to a certain extent -- from power.

  • Montesquieu: I see that you would enter into the career of absolute power by the best route, because in a State in which the initiation of the laws belongs to the sovereign alone, the sovereign is the only legislator; but, before, you go too far, I would to make an objection.

  • Joly showed how and why ▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ was able to remain in power for so long (longer than anyone apparently imagined), but he did not believe what he has Machiavelli say in the last of his dialogues with Montesquieu: "Everything will have been done, everything will have been completed; no more resistance will be possible." Instead, Joly believed that resistance was not only possible, but it would also be effective, provided that it found new means of expressing itself, new means of acting in the world.

  • Montesquieu: Certainly, because your maxims allow the prince to not keep his word when he finds it to be in his interest.

  • Montesquieu: You are deceived, Machiavelli; but before I respond to you, I must recall to you my writings and the character of the mission that they fulfilled.

  • Today, governing is not a matter of committing violent iniquities, decapitating enemies, stripping subjects of their goods, Montesquieu: That is fortunate.

  • I argue that this stance, not wholly unique to Burke, stems from early Enlightenment thought (specifically, Montesquieu), and the eighteenth-century anti-Deist polemic.

  • Montesquieu: I think that, at least in the France of which you seem to want to speak, it is true that this is a law of circumstance that must be modified, if not completely removed, under a regime of constitutional liberty.

  • Montesquieu: I believe that you still must speak to me of the court of cassation.