Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolution and the development of modern political, economic, and educational thought.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau Quotes
Why should we build our happiness on the opinons of others, when we can find it in our own hearts?
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
What wisdom can you find greater than kindness.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
To be sane in a world of madman is in itself madness.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
It is too difficult to think nobly when one thinks only of earning a living.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
I would rather be a man of paradoxes than a man of prejudices.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
I prefer liberty with danger than peace with slavery.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
There is no evildoer who could not be made good for something.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
To renounce freedom is to renounce one’s humanity, one’s rights as a man and equally one’s duties.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
So finally we tumble into the abyss, we ask God why he has made us so feeble. But, in spite of ourselves, He replies through our consciences: ‘I have made you too feeble to climb out of the pit, because i made you strong enough not to fall in.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
The “sociable” man, always outside himself, is capable of living only in the opinions of others and, so to speak, derives the sentiment of his own existence solely from their judgment.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Being wealthy isn’t just a question of having lots of money. It’s a question of what we want. Wealth isn’t an absolute, it’s relative to desire. Every time we seek something that we can’t afford, we can be counted as poor, how much money we may actually have.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
What, then, is the government? An intermediary body established between the subjects and the sovereign for their mutual communication, a body charged with the execution of the laws and the maintenance of freedom, both civil and political.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
MAN is born free; and everywhere he is in chains. One thinks himself the master of others, and still remains a greater slave than they.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Nature made me happy and good, and if I am otherwise, it is society’s fault.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
I feel an indescribable ecstasy and delirium in melting, as it were, into the system of being, in identifying myself with the whole of nature..
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
If there were a nation of Gods, it would govern itself democratically. A government so perfect is not suited to men.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
If we assume man has been corrupted by an artificial civilization, what is the natural state? the state of nature from which he has been removed? imagine, wandering up and down the forest without industry, without speech, and without home.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
The people of England regards itself as free; but it is grossly mistaken; it is free only during the election of members of parliament. As soon as they are elected, slavery overtakes it, and it is nothing.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
To renounce liberty is to renounce being a man, to surrender the rights of humanity and even its duties.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
A born king is a very rare being.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Falsehood has an infinity of combinations, but truth has only one mode of being.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
She was dull, unattractive, couldn’t tell the time, count money or tie her own shoe laces… But I loved her
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
All wickedness comes from weakness. The child is wicked only because he is weak. Make him strong; he will be good. He who could do everything would never do harm.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
In a well governed state, there are few punishments, not because there are many pardons, but because criminals are rare; it is when a state is in decay that the multitude of crimes is a guarantee of impunity.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Absolute silence leads to sadness. It is the image of death.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
It is easier to conquer than to administer. With enough leverage, a finger could overturn the world; but to support the world, one must have the shoulders of Hercules.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Once you teach people to say what they do not understand, it is easy enough to get them to say anything you like.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau