Jean-Jacques Rousseau Quotes - Page 10

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Do to others as you would have others do to you, inspires all men with that other maxim of natural goodness a great deal less perfect, but perhaps more useful: Do good to yourself with as little prejudice as you can to others.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Men, Perfect, Inspire

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You are worried about seeing him spend his early years in doing nothing. What! Is it nothing to be happy? Nothing to skip, play and run around all day long? Never in his life will he be so busy again.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Happiness, Running, Children

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Two things, almost incompatible, are united in me in a manner which I am unable to understand: a very ardent temperament, lively and tumultuous passions, and, at the same time, slowly developed and confused ideas, which never present themselves until it is too late. One might say that my heart and my mind do not belong to the same person.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Confused, Passion, Heart

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (2015). “Confessions”, p.176, Everyman's Library

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There are times when I am so unlike myself that I might be taken for someone else of an entirely opposite character.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Taken, Character, Opposites

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1971). “The Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau”

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For, as I think I have said, I can only meditate when I am walking. When I stop I cease to think; my mind only works with my legs.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Journey, Thinking, Hiking

"The Confessions".

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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.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Believe, Reality, Men

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Government originated in the attempt to find a form of association that defends and protects the person and property of each with the common force of all.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Government, Liberty, Association

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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.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Christian, Short Life, Eye

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, G. D. H. Cole (2003). “On the Social Contract”, p.95, Courier Corporation

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Every man has the right to risk his own life in order to preserve it. Has it ever been said that a man who throws himself out the window to escape from a fire is guilty of suicide?

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Suicide, Men, Fire

Jean Jacques Rousseau (2015). “The Social Contract”, p.142, Jean Jacques Rousseau

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Whence do I get my rules of conduct? I find them in my heart. Whatever I feel to be good is good. Whatever I feel to be evil is evil. Conscience is the best of casuists.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Heart, Evil, Be Good

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The problem is to find a form of association which will defend and protect with the whole common force the person and goods of each associate, and in which each, while uniting himself with all, may still obey himself alone, and remain as free as before.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Government, Uniting, May

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (2012). “On the Social Contract”, p.19, Courier Corporation

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In truth, laws are always useful to those with possessions and harmful to those who have nothing; from which it follows that the social state is advantageous to men only when all possess something and none has too much.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Men, Law, Too Much

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Usurpers always bring about or select troublous times to get passed, under cover of the public terror, destructive laws, which the people would never adopt in cold blood. The moment chosen is one of the surest means of distinguishing the work of the legislator from that of the tyrant.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Mean, Tyrants, Blood

Jean Jacques Rousseau (2015). “The Social Contract”, p.173, Jean Jacques Rousseau

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The strongest is never strong enough to be always the master, unless he transforms strength into right, and obedience into duty.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Strength, Strong, Enough

Du Contrat Social bk. 1, ch. 3 (1762)

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I loved too sincerely, too completely, I venture to say, to be able to be happy easily.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Venture, Able, Sincerely

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1996). “The Confessions”, p.73, Wordsworth Editions

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Beware of listening to this impostor; you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Listening, Immigration, Earth

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (2005). “On the Origin of Inequality”, p.62, Cosimo, Inc.

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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.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Mean, Passion, Heart

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (2009). “Emile: Or, On Education”, p.384, The Floating Press

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Force does not constitute right... obedience is due only to legitimate powers.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Philosophical, Doe, Obedience

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Equality, because without it there can be no liberty.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Liberty

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Whoever refuses to obey the general will will be forced to do so by the entire body; this means merely that he will be forced to be free.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Mean, Body, Refuse

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (2010). “The Basic Political Writings (Second Edition)”, p.167, Hackett Publishing

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It is believed that physiognomy is only a simple development of the features already marked out by nature. It is my opinion, however, that in addition to this development, the features come insensibly to be formed and assume their shape from the frequent and habitual expression of certain affections of the soul. These affections are marked on the countenance; nothing is more certain than this; and when they turn into habits, they must leave on it durable impressions.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Simple, Expression, Soul

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What good would it be to possess the whole universe if one were its only survivor?

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Survivor, Whole, Ifs

"A Lasting Peace Through the Federation of Europe". Book by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1756.

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If there is in this world a well-attested account, it is that of vampires. Nothing is lacking: official reports, affidavits of well-known people, of surgeons, of priests, of magistrates; the judicial proof is most complete. And with all that, who is there who believes in vampires?

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Believe, People, Vampire

"The Social Contract". Book by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1762.

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Fame is but the breath of people, and that often unwholesome.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Philosophy, Philosophical, People

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In any case, frequent punishments are a sign of weakness or slackness in the government. There is no man so bad that he cannot be made good for something. No man should be put to death, even as an example, if he can be left to live without danger to society.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Men, Weakness, Example

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Born: June 28, 1712
Died: July 2, 1778
Occupation: Philosopher
Cite this Page: Citation

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