Enlightenment Thinkers Quotations

People are driven by a restless desire for power. Without laws or other social controls, people would always be in conflict. In such a state of nature, life would be nasty, brutish and short.

Leviathan

• John Locke

• Beccaria

• Thomas Hobbes

• Voltaire

As all persons are held innocent until they have been declared guilty, if arrest is considered essential, all harsh ness not necessary for the securing of the person shall be severely repressed by law.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen,

• John Locke

• Voltaire

• Hobbes

• Beccaria

Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States; if he approves he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall…proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of the House shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent…to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law.

U.S. Constitution

• John Locke

• Montesquieu

• Beccaria

• Hobbes

Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed… whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new Government.

Declaration of Independence, 1776

• Montesquieu

• Beccaria

• Voltaire

• John Locke

All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives. The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. The judicial Power of the United States shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.

U.S. Constitution

• Montesquieu

• Voltaire

• Hobbes

• Beccaria

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Declaration of Independence, 1776

• Montesquieu

• Voltaire

• Hobbes

• John Locke

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging [limiting] the freedom of speech or of the press.

U.S. Bill of Rights, 1791

• Montesquieu

• Beccaria

• Voltaire

• John Locke

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed.

U.S. Bill of Rights

• Montesquieu

• Beccaria

• Hobbes

• John Locke

“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

• Montesquieu

• Beccaria

• Voltaire

• John Locke

No person shall…be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.

The Bill of Rights Amendment 5

• Montesquieu

• Beccaria

• Voltaire

• John Locke