"God makes all things good; man meddles with them and they become evil."
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
|
"To write a love letter, you have to start, without knowing, what you want to say, and end, without knowing what you have said."
|
"Absolute silence leads to sadness. It is the image of death."
|
"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."
|
"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."
|
"Finance is a slave's word."
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
|
"Every artists wants to be applauded."
|
|
"We are born weak, we need strength; helpless, we need aid; foolish, we need reason. All that we lack at birth, all that we need when we come to man's estate, is the gift of education."
|
"He who blushes is already guilty." |
"Hatred, as well as love, renders its votaries credulous." |
"Once you teach people to say what they do not understand, it is easy enough to get them to say anything you like."
|
"There is no evildoer who could not be made good for something."
|
"The only moral lesson which is suited for a child--the most important lesson for every time of life--is this: 'Never hurt anybody."
|
"Nature made me happy and good, and if I am otherwise, it is society's fault."
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
|
"If force compels obedience, there is no need to invoke a duty to obey, and if force ceases to compel obedience, there is no longer any obligation."
|
|
"There is peace in dungeons, but is that enough to make dungeons desirable?"
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
|
"Everything is good as it comes from the hands of the Maker of the world, but degenerates once it gets into the hands of man."
|
"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." |
"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."
|
"Laws are always useful to those who possess and vexatious to those who have nothing."
|
"Liberty may be gained, but can never be recovered."
|
"I am not made like any of those I have seen. I venture to believe that I am not made like any of those who are in existence. If I am not better, at least I."
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
|
|
