Jean-Jacques Rousseau Quotes
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That which renders life burdensome to us generally arises from the abuse of it.
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I was not much afraid of punishment, I was only afraid of disgrace.But that I feared more than death, more than crime, more than anything in the world. I should have rejoiced if the earth had swallowed me up and stifled me in the abyss. But my invincible sense of shame prevailed over everything . It was my shame that made me impudent, and the more wickedly I behaved the bolder my fear of confession made me. I saw nothing but the horror of being found out, of being publicly proclaimed, to my face, as a thief, as a liar, and slanderer.
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A country cannot subsist well without liberty, nor liberty without virtue.
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Those that are most slow in making a promise are the most faithful in the performance of it.
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Socrates dies with honor, surrounded by his disciples listening to the most tender words -the easiest death that one could wish to die. Jesus dies in pain, dishonor, mockery, the object of universal cursing - the most horrible death that one could fear. At the receipt of the cup of poison, Socrates blesses him who could not give it to him without tears; Jesus, while suffering the sharpest pains, prays for His most bitter enemies. If Socrates lived and died like a philosopher, Jesus lived and died like a god.
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If there were a nation of Gods, it would govern itself democratically. A government so perfect is not suited to men.
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I also realized that the philosophers, far from ridding me of my vain doubts, only multiplied the doubts that tormented me and failed to remove any one of them. So I chose another guide and said, Let me follow the Inner Light; it will not lead me so far astray as others have done, or if it does it will be my own fault, and I shall not go so far wrong if I follow my own illusions as if I trusted to their deceits.
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Beings who are so uniquely constituted must necessarily express themselves in other ways than ordinary men. It is impossible that with souls so differently modified, they should not carry over into the expression of their feelings and ideas the stamp of those modifications.
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Liberty is obedience to the law which one has laid down for oneself
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The thirst after happiness is never extinguished in the heart of man.
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Our island is this earth; and the most striking object we behold is the sun. As soon as we pass beyond our immediate surroundings, one or both of these must meet our eye. Thus the philosophy of most savage races is mainly directed to imaginary divisions of the earth or to the divinity of the sun.
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In the strict sense of the term, a true democracy has never existed, and never will exist.
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A man speaks of what he knows, a woman of what pleases her: the one requires knowledge, the other taste.
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I long remained a child, and I am still one in many respects.
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To renounce freedom is to renounce one's humanity, one's rights as a man and equally one's duties.
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Once you teach people to say what they do not understand, it is easy enough to get them to say anything you like.
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L'accent est l'âme du discours.
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As for the Soothsayer, although I am certain no one feels the true beauties of that work better than I, I am far from finding these beauties in the same places as the infatuated public does. They are not the products of study and knowledge, but rather are inspired by taste and sensitivity.
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The problem is to find a form of association which will defend and protect with the whole common force the person and goods of each associate, and in which each, while uniting himself with all, may still obey himself alone, and remain as free as before.
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A paralyzed man who wants to walk OR an agile man who does not want to walk will both remain neutral in nature.
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Peter had a genius for imitation; but he lacked true genius, which is creative and makes all from nothing.
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People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little.
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There is no folly of which a man who is not a fool cannot get rid except vanity; of this nothing cures a man except experience of its bad consequences, if indeed anything can cure it.
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Our greatest evils flow from ourselves.