Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseauwas a Francophone Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of the 18th century. His political philosophy influenced the Enlightenment in France and across Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolution and the overall development of modern political and educational thought...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth28 June 1712
CityGeneva, Switzerland
CountryFrance
men fellow-man natural
No man has any natural authority over his fellow men.
people morality treats
Those people who treat politics and morality separately will never understand either of them.
thinking may today
[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.]
men social
Social man lives constantly outside himself.
money riches firsts
Money is the seed of money, and the first guinea is sometimes more difficult to acquire than the second million.
evil flow
Our greatest evils flow from ourselves.
self may gains
Supreme happiness consists in self-content; that we may gain this self-content, we are placed upon this earth and endowed with freedom.
heart illumination soul
It is as if my heart and my brain did not belong to the same person. Feelings come quicker than lightning and fill my soul, but they bring me no illumination; they burn me and dazzle me.
christian short-life eye
But I am mistaken in speaking of a Christian republic; the terms are mutually exclusive. Christianity preaches only servitude and dependence. Its spirit is so favorable to tyranny that it always profits by such a regime. True Christians are made to be slaves, and they know it and do not much mind; this short life counts for too little in their eyes.
war government punishment
Frequent punishments are always a sign of weakness or laziness on the part of a government.
wise children men
With children use force; with men reason; such is the natural order of things. The wise man requires no law.
heart past joy
Everything is in constant flux on this earth. Nothing keeps the same unchanging shape, and our affections, being attached to things outside us, necessarily change and pass away as they do. Always out ahead of us or lagging behind, they recall a past which is gone or anticipate a future which may never come into being; there is nothing solid there for the heart to attach itself to. Thus our earthly joys are almost without exception the creatures of a moment...
time men citizens
One must choose between making a man or a citizen, for one cannot make both at the same time.
creative nihilism genius
True genius is creative and makes all from nothing.