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
communication law government
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.
infinite infinite-power
I say to myself: "Who are you to measure infinite power?
liars should-have punishment
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.
people say-anything easy
Once you teach people to say what they do not understand, it is easy enough to get them to say anything you like.
men want way
I have resolved on an enterprise that has no precedent and will have no imitator. I want to set before my fellow human beings a man in every way true to nature; and that man will be myself.
writing projects aim
I undertake the same project as Montaigne, but with an aim contrary to his own: for he wrote his Essays only for others, and I write my reveries only for myself.
birthday regret age
O love, if I regret the age when one savors you, it is not for the hour of pleasure, but for the one that follows it.
philosophical adversity sleep
Remorse sleeps during prosperity but awakes bitter consciousness during adversity.
philosophical swag said
I have always said and felt that true enjoyment can not be described.
faith soul individual
Base souls have no faith in great individuals.
men forgiving prejudice
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.
education educational important
Do I dare set forth here the most important, the most useful rule of all education? It is not to save time, but to squander it.
philosophical hero long
How many famous and high-spirited heroes have lived a day too long?
love philosophical romance
Our affections as well as our bodies are in perpetual flux.