Man, as a physical being, is governed by invariable laws like other bodies. As an intelligent being, he constantly violates the laws god has established and changes those he himself establishes; he must guide himself, and yet he is a limited being; he is subject to ignorance and error, as are all finite intelligences; he loses even the imperfect knowledge he has.
 Montesquieu, The Spirit of Law (1748). copy citation

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Author Montesquieu
Source The Spirit of Law
Topic intelligence ignorance
Date 1748
Language English
Reference
Note Translated by Anne M. Cohler, Basia Carolyn Miller and Harold Samuel Stone
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