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
believe reality men
It is hard to prevent oneself from believing what one so keenly desires, and who can doubt that the interest we have in admitting or denying the reality of the Judgement to come determines the faith of most men in accordance with their hopes and fears.
guilty
He who blushes is already guilty.
money liberty slavery
The money that we possess is the instrument of liberty, that which we lack and strive to obtain is the instrument of slavery.
heart mean passion
Our passions are the chief means of self-preservation; to try to destroy them is therefore as absurd as it is useless; this would be to overcome nature, to reshape God's handiwork. If God bade man annihilate the passions he has given him, God would bid him be and not be; He would contradict himself. He has never given such a foolish commandment, there is nothing like it written on the heart of man, and what God will have a man do, He does not leave to the words of another man. He speaks Himself; His words are written in the secret heart.
men woe-unto yield
If, by chance, someone among those men of extraordinary talent is found who has firmness of soul and who refuses to yield to the genius of his age and to debase himself with childish works, woe unto him! He will die in poverty and oblivion.
mind host concern
It is not possible for minds degraded by a host of trivial concerns to ever rise to anything great.
princess cake way
I remembered the way out suggested by a great princess when told that the peasants had no bread: "Well, let them eat cake".
country men perfect
At Genoa, the word Liberty may be read over the front of the prisons and on the chains of the galley-slaves. This application of the device is good and just. It is indeed only malefactors of all estates who prevent the citizen from being free. In the country in which all such men were in the galleys, the most perfect liberty would be enjoyed.
people doe deceived
Our will is always for our own good, but we do not always see what that is; the people is never corrupted, but it is often deceived, and on such occasions only does it seem to will what is bad.
people soul spurs
Interest is the spur of the people, but glory that of great souls.
body politics causes
The body politic, as well as the human body, begins to die as soon as it is born, and carries itself the causes of its destruction.
secret likes firsts
The first step towards vice is to shroud innocent actions in mystery, and whoever likes to conceal something sooner or later has reason to conceal it.
men prejudice paradox
I would rather be a man of paradoxes than a man of prejudices.
kings born social-contract
A born king is a very rare being.