Étienne de La Boétie

Étienne de La Boétie was born on November 1, 1530, in Sarlat, Périgord, France. A prodigy who translated Xenophon and Plutarch into French, La Boétie completed his law studies at the University of Orléans and was appointed by royal patent as a judge in the Parliament of Bordeaux at the remarkably young age of 23.

Around 1548 at approximately age 18, La Boétie composed his immortal masterpiece 'Discours de la servitude volontaire' (Discourse on Voluntary Servitude). In it, he posed the fundamental question of political philosophy: Why do millions of people endure the tyranny of a single ruler who possesses only the power that the people themselves concede to him? He argued that tyrants fall not through violent assassination, but when subjects simply resolve to withdraw their obedience.

His intimate soul-friendship with Michel de Montaigne inspired Montaigne's famous essay 'On Friendship'. La Boétie's philosophy profoundly influenced Leo Tolstoy, Henry David Thoreau, Mahatma Gandhi, and Gene Sharp in developing nonviolent resistance. He passed away of dysentery at age 32 on August 18, 1563.