Jean-Jacques Rousseau Quotes
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Good laws lead to the making of better ones; bad ones bring about worse.
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Men and women are made for each other, but their mutual dependence differs in degrees; man is dependent on woman through his desires; woman is dependent on man through her desires and also through her needs; he could do without her better than she can do without him. She cannot fulfill her purpose in life without his aid, without his goodwill, without his respect.....Nature herself has decreed that woman, both for herself and her children, should be at the mercy of man s judgment.
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The world is the book of women. Whatever knowledge they may possess is more commonly acquired by observation than by reading.
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I bold it impossible, that the great monarchies of Europe can subsist much longer; they all affect magnificence and splendor.
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The infant, on opening his eyes, ought to see his country, and to the hour of his death never lose sight of it.
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Singing and dancing alone will not advance one in the world. [Fr., Qui bien chante et bien danse fait un metier qui peu avance.]
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As a general rule-never substitute the symbol for the thing signified, unless it is impossible to show the thing itself; for the child's attention is so taken up with the symbol that he will forget what it signifies.
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There is no subjection so perfect as that which keeps the appearance of freedom.
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There is no evildoer who could not be made good for something.
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Happiness: a good bank account, a good cook, and a good digestion.
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From the first moment of life, men ought to begin learning to deserve to live; and, as at the instant of birth we partake of the rights of citizenship, that instant ought to be the beginning of the exercise of our duty.
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There is a period in life when we go backwards as we advance.
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The only moral lesson which is suited for a child--the most important lesson for every time of life--is this: 'Never hurt anybody.
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We do not know either unalloyed happiness or unmitigated misfortune. Everything in this world is a tangled yarn; we taste nothing in its purity; we do not remain two moments in the same state. Our affections as well as bodies, are in a perpetual flux.
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The bigger a state becomes the more liberty diminishes.
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The English people think they are free; they are greatly deceived; they are free only during the election of members of Parliament.
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Living is not breathing but doing.
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Abstaining so as really to enjoy, is the epicurism, the very perfection, of reason.
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Sovereigns always see with pleasure a taste for the arts of amusement and superfluity, which do not result in the exportation of bullion, increase among their subjects. They very well know that, besides nourishing that littleness of mind which is proper to slavery, the increase of artificial wants only binds so many more chains upon the people.
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If all were perfect Christians, individuals would do their duty; the people would be obedient to the laws, the magistrates incorrupt, and there would be neither vanity nor luxury in such a state.
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Your first duty is to be humane. Love childhood. Look with friendly eyes on its games, its pleasures, its amiable dispositions. Which of you does not sometimes look back regretfully on the age when laughter was ever on the lips and the heart free of care? Why steal from the little innocents the enjoyment of a time that passes all too quickly?
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Yes, if the life and death of Socrates are those of a wise man, the life and death of Jesus are those of a god.
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Self-love is an instrument useful but dangerous; it often wounds the hand which makes use of it, and seldom does good without doing harm.
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I have never believed that man's freedom consisted in doing what he wants, but rather in never doing what he does not want to do.