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The bigger a state becomes the more liberty diminishes.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau -
That man is truly free who desires what he is able to perform, and does what he desires.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
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I bold it impossible, that the great monarchies of Europe can subsist much longer; they all affect magnificence and splendor.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau -
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.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau -
The general will is always right.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau -
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.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau -
The English people think they are free; they are greatly deceived; they are free only during the election of members of Parliament.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau -
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.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
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There is no evildoer who could not be made good for something.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau -
Consolation indiscreetly pressed upon us, when we are suffering undue affliction, only serves to increase our pain, and to render our grief more poignant.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau -
Abstaining so as really to enjoy, is the epicurism, the very perfection, of reason.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau -
Our greatest evil flows from ourselves.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau -
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.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau -
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.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
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To discover the rules of society that are best suited to nations, there would need to exist a superior intelligence, who could understand the passions of men without feeling any of them, who had no affinity with our nature but knew it to the full, whose happiness was independent of ours, but who would nevertheless make our happiness his concern, who would be content to wait in the fullness of time for a distant glory, and to labour in one age to enjoy the fruits in another. Gods would be needed to give men laws.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau -
I only see clearly what I remember.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau -
People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little. It is plain that an ignorant person thinks everything he does know important, and he tells it to everybody. But a well-educated man is not so ready to display his learning; he would have too much to say, and he sees that there is much more to be said, so he holds his peace.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau -
Virtue is a state of war, and to live in it we have always to combat with ourselves.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau -
There is a period in life when we go backwards as we advance.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau -
Happiness: a good bank account, a good cook, and a good digestion.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
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The happiest is he who suffers least; the most miserable is he who enjoys least.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau -
Men will argue more philosophically about the human heart; but women will read the heart of man better than they.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau -
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?
Jean-Jacques Rousseau -
Living is not breathing but doing.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau