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Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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Jean-Jacques Rousseau (UK: , US: ; French: [ʒɑ̃ʒak ʁuso]; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosophe, writer, and composer. His political philosophy was influential during the Age of Enlightenment, as well as during the French Revolution.

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Quotes from Jean-Jacques Rousseau

What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?

—Jean-Jacques Rousseau

kindness wisdom

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

People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little.

—Jean-Jacques Rousseau

You forget that the fruits belong to all and that the land belongs to no one.

—Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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

—Jean-Jacques Rousseau

duty

The first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground, bethought himself of saying, This is mine, and found people simple enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars, and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes might not anyone have saved mankind, by pulling up the stakes, or filling up the ditch, and crying to his fellows, "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

The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless.

—Jean-Jacques Rousseau

reality imagination limits

Nature never deceives us; it is we who deceive ourselves.

—Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Happiness: a good bank account, a good cook and a good digestion.

—Jean-Jacques Rousseau

The happiest is the person who suffers the least pain; the most miserable who enjoys the least pleasure.

—Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Your first appearance, he said to me, is the gauge by which you will be measured; try to manage that you may go beyond yourself in after times, but beware of ever doing less.

—Jean-Jacques Rousseau