Jean-Jacques Rousseau Quotes
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Foxley translation
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Interest is the spur of the people, but glory that of great souls.
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An honest man nearly always thinks justly.
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The indifference of children towards meat is one proof that the taste for meat is unnatural; their preference is for vegetable foods...Beware of changing this natural taste and making children flesh-eaters, if not for their health's sake, for the sake of their character; for how can one explain away the fact that great meat-eaters are usually fiercer and more cruel than other men; this has been recognised at all times and in all places.
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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.
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The mind grows narrow in proportion as the soul grows corrupt.
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Oh providence! Oh nature! Treasure of the poor, resource of the unfortunate. The person who feels, knows your holy laws and trusts them, the person whose heart is at peace and whose body does not suffer, thanks to you is not entirely prey to adversity.
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He who eats in idleness that which he himself has not earned, steals it; and a capitalist whom the state pays for doing nothing differs little in my eyes from a brigand, who lives at the expense of passers-by.
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The money you have gives you freedom; the money you pursue enslaves you.
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Generally we obtain very surely and very speedily what we are not too anxious to obtain.
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People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little.
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To try to conceal our own heart is a bad means to read that of others.
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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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Ordinary readers, forgive my paradoxes: one must make them when one reflects; and whatever you may say, I prefer being a man with paradoxes than a man with prejudices.
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It is not possible for minds degraded by a host of trivial concerns to ever rise to anything great.
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We are reduced to asking others what we are. We never dare to ask ourselves.
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[When anything happens, we interpret it as good or bad, but...] We do not know what is really good or bad fortune. [Only the future can decide. For example, what appears to be bad today may in fact lead us to a greater good tomorrow and by the very act of thinking and planning in that positive way, we can help make that good future come true.]
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Never did I think so much, exist so much, be myself so much as in the journeys I have made alone and on foot. Walking has something about it which animates and enlivens my ideas. I can hardly think while I am still; my body must be in motion to move my mind.
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The man is best served who has no occasion to put the hands of others at the end of his own arms.
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We are born, so to speak, twice over; born into existence, and born into life; born a human being, and born a man.
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Remorse sleeps in the atmosphere of prosperity.
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The opportunity of making happy is more scarce than we imagine; the punishment of missing it is, never to meet with it again; and the use we make of it leaves us an eternal sentiment of satisfaction or repentance.
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L'offenseur ne pardonne jamais.1
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We are born weak, we need strength; helpless, we need aid; foolish, we need reason. All that we lack at birth, all that we need when we come to man's estate, is the gift of education.