Carl Schmitt

The concept of humanity is an especially useful ideological instrument of imperialist expansion, and in its ethical-humanitarian form it is a specific…

— Carl Schmitt

All significant concepts of the modern theory of the state are secularized theological concepts.

— Carl Schmitt

The exception is more interesting than the rule. The rule proves nothing; the exception proves everything. In the exception the power of…

— Carl Schmitt

“In the nomadic age, the shepherd (nomeus) was the typical symbol of rule. In Statesman, Plato distinguishes the shepherd from the statesman:…

— Carl Schmitt

“The crisis of European jurisprudence began a century ago with the victory of legal positivism.”

— Carl Schmitt

“Hauriou, became a crown witness for us when he confirmed this connection in 1916, in the midst of WWI: “The revolution of…

— Carl Schmitt

I want to paint a canvasthat will be nothing but harmonious tone.

— Carl Schmitt

The metaphysical image that a definite epoch forges of the world has the same structure as what the world immediately understands to…

— Carl Schmitt

“The political enemy need not be morally evil or aesthetically ugly; he need not appear as an economic competitor, and it may…

— Carl Schmitt

“True law is not imposed; it arises from unintentional developments. (...)Law emerges (...) as something not merely legislated but given. The later…

— Carl Schmitt

“The most brazen humiliation ever inflicted upon God and mankind, justifying all the curses of the synagogue, is to be found in…

— Carl Schmitt

Sovereign is he who decides on the exception.

— Carl Schmitt

“Legality has become a poisonous dagger, with which one party stabs the other in the back.”

— Carl Schmitt

Tell me who your enemy is, and I will tell you who you are.

— Carl Schmitt

“The motorization of law into mere decree was not yet the culmination of simplifications and accelerations. New accelerations were produced by market…

— Carl Schmitt

All law is situational law. The sovereign produces and guarantees the situation in its totality. He has the monopoly over this last…

— Carl Schmitt

“The essence and value of the law lies in its stability and durability (...), in its “relative eternity.” Only then does the…

— Carl Schmitt

When will we learn that childhood is in a great sense not simply a preparation for adult life but a thing unique…

— Carl Schmitt

“All significant concepts of the modern theory of the state are secularized theological concepts not only because of their historical development -…

— Carl Schmitt

A world state which which embraces the entire globe and all of humanity cannot exist. The political world is a pluriverse, not…

— Carl Schmitt

The specific political distinction to which political actions and motives can be reduced is that between friend and enemy.

— Carl Schmitt

“The transformation of the community into an administrative state responsible for total social welfare leads to a paternal totality without a house-father…

— Carl Schmitt

The essence of liberalism is negotiation, a cautious half measure, in the hope that the definitive dispute, the decisive bloody battle, can…

— Carl Schmitt

“How did Kirchmann understand the worthlessness of jurisprudence ? The answer lies in the aphorism: "Three revisions by the legislator and whole…

— Carl Schmitt

Every actual democracy rests on the principle that not only are equals equal but unequals will not be treated equally.Democracy requires, therefore,…

— Carl Schmitt