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

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About Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Portrait of Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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

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

—Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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

—Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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

—Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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

—Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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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

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