Jean-Jacques Rousseau Quotes
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Even knaves may be made good for something.
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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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At Genoa, the word Liberty may be read over the front of the prisons and on the chains of the galley-slaves. This application of the device is good and just. It is indeed only malefactors of all estates who prevent the citizen from being free. In the country in which all such men were in the galleys, the most perfect liberty would be enjoyed.
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Good laws lead to the making of better ones; bad ones bring about worse.
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Do to others as you would have others do to you, inspires all men with that other maxim of natural goodness a great deal less perfect, but perhaps more useful: Do good to yourself with as little prejudice as you can to others.
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The happiest is he who suffers least; the most miserable is he who enjoys least.
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As long as there are rich people in the world, they will be desirous of distinguishing themselves from the poor.
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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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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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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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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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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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Laws are always useful to those who possess and vexatious to those who have nothing.
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Jewish authors would never have invented either that style nor that morality; and the Gospel has marks of truth so great, so striking, so utterly inimitable, that the invention of it would be more astonishing than the hero.
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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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He who has the base necessities of life should pay nothing; taxation on him who has a surplus may, if need be; extend to everything beyond necessities.
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It has always pleased me to read while eating if I have no companion; it gives me the society I lack. I devour alternately a page and a mouthful; it is as though my book were dining with me.
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There is no subjection so perfect as that which keeps the appearance of freedom.
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Virtue is a state of war, and to live in it we have always to combat with ourselves.
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There is a period in life when we go backwards as we advance.
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Sacrifice life to truth.
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A man who is not a fool can rid himself of every folly except vanity.
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That man is truly free who desires what he is able to perform, and does what he desires.
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All of my misfortunes come from having thought too well of my fellows.