Jean-Jacques Rousseau Quotes
-
Whoever refuses to obey the general will will be forced to do so by the entire body; this means merely that he will be forced to be free.
-
Childhood is the sleep of reason. [Fr., L'enfance est le sommeil de la raison.]
-
A feeble body weakens the mind.
-
How many famous and high-spirited heroes have lived a day too long?
-
Heroes are not known by the loftiness of their carriage; the greatest braggarts are generally the merest cowards.
-
Behold the works of our philosophers; with all their pompous diction, how mean and contemptible they are by comparison with the Scriptures! Is it possible that a book at once so simple and sublime should be merely the work of man?
-
I love idleness. I love to busy myself about trifles, to begin a hundred things and not finish one of them, to come and go as my fancy bids me, to change my plan every moment, to follow a fly in all its circlings, to try and uproot a rock to see what is underneath, eagerly to begin a ten-years' task to give it up after ten minutes: in short, to fritter away the whole day inconsequentially and incoherently, and to follow nothing but the whim of the moment.
-
My liveliest delight was in having conquered myself.
-
But remain the teacher of the young teachers. Advise and direct us, and we will be ready to learn. I will have need of you as long as I live.
-
The English are predisposed to pride, the French to vanity.
-
At sixteen, the adolescent knows about suffering because he himself has suffered, but he barely knows that other beings also suffer.
-
The writings of women are always cold and pretty like themselves. There is as much wit as you may desire, but never any soul.
-
Gratitude is a duty which ought to be paid, but which none have a right to expect.
-
Temperance and labor are the two best physicians of man; labor sharpens the appetite, and temperance prevents from indulging to excess
-
At first we will only skim the surface of the earth like young starlings, but soon, emboldened by practice and experience, we will spring into the air with the impetuousness of the eagle, diverting ourselves by watching the childish behavior of the little men or awling miserably around on the earth below us.
-
Once you teach people to say what they do not understand, it is easy enough to get them to say anything you like. v One could wish no easier death than that of Socrates, calmly discussing philosophy with his friends; one could fear nothing worse than that of Jesus, dying in torment, among the insults, the mockery, the curses of the whole nation. In the midst of these terrible sufferings, Jesus prays for his cruel murderers. Yes, if the life and death of Socrates are those of a philosopher, the life and death of Christ are those of a God.
-
The animals you eat are not those who devour others; you do not eat the carnivorous beasts, you take them as your pattern. You only hunger for the sweet and gentle creatures which harm no one, which follow you, serve you, and are devoured by you as the reward of their service.
-
The truths of the Scriptures are so marked and inimitable, that the inventor would be more of a miraculous character than the hero.
-
Definitions would be good things if we did not use words to make them.
-
I may not amount to much, but at least I am unique.
-
One thinks himself the master of others, and still remains a greater slave than they.
-
In Genoa, the word, libertas can be read on the front of prisons and on the fetters of galley-slaves. The application of this motto is fine and just.
-
The science of government is only a science of combinations, of applications, and of exceptions, according to times, places and circumstances.
-
For it is in our nature to endure patiently the decrees of fate, but not the ill-will of others.