Jean-Jacques Rousseau Quotes

Once you teach people to say what they do not understand, it is easy enough to get them to say anything you like.

The second essential rule of public economy is no less important than the first. If you would have the general will accomplished, bring all the particular wills into conformity with it; in other words, as virtue is nothing more than this conformity of the particular wills with the general will, establish the reign of virtue.

you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us al, and that the earth itself belongs to nobody

In all the ills that befall us, we are more concerned by the intention than the result. A tile that falls off a roof may injure us more seriously, but it will not wound us so deeply as a stone thrown deliberately by a malevolent hand. The blow may miss, but the intention always strikes home.

The earth left to its own natural fertility and covered with immense woods, that no hatchet ever disfigured, offers at every step food and shelter to every species of animals. Men, dispersed among them, observe and imitate their industry, and thus rise to the instinct of beasts; with this advantage, that, whereas every species of beasts is confined to one peculiar instinct, man, who perhaps has not any that particularly belongs to him, appropriates to himself those of all other animals, and lives equally upon most of the different aliments, which they only divide among themselves; a circumstance which qualifies him to find his subsistence, with more ease than any of them.

Bir şey öğrenmeye çalışmıyorum; artık zamanı geçti. Aslında bu denli çok bilginin, yaşamın mutluluğuna yardım ettiğini hiç görmedim; ama kendime, hiçbir güçlük duymadan zevk alacağım ve bana yıkımlarımı unutturacak tatlı ve sıradan eğlenceler arıyorum.

Savage man, once he has eaten, is at peace with all of nature and the friend of all his fellow humans.

Romans had been content to practice virtue; all was lost when they began to study it.

To me money has never seemed to be as precious a thing as it is usually found to be. Further; to me it has never seemed very convenient; it is good for nothing by itself; one must transform it in order to enjoy it; one must buy, haggle, often be a dupe, pay well, in order to be poorly served. I would like something of good quality; with my money I am sure of having one of bad quality. I buy a fresh egg dearly, it is old; a fine fruit, it is green; a girl, she is tainted. I love good wine; but where is it to be found? At a wine merchant's? Whatever I might do he will poison me. Do I absolutely want to be well served? How many cares, what bother! to have friends, correspondents, to give commissions, to write, to go, to come, to wait, and often in the end still to be fooled. How much trouble with my money! I fear it more than I love good wine

La liberté n'étant pas un fruit de tous les climats n'est pas à la portée de tous les peuples.

y yo me adapto tan fácilmente a un método de vida, cuando es voluntario, que sólo hubiera deseado que éste durase siempre.

De souvereiniteit kan niet gerepresenteerd worden; om dezelfde reden waarom die zich niet laat vervreemden; zij bestaat in essentie uit de algemene wil en de wil laat zich niet representeren; ofwel die
blijft wat die al was, of dat is niet het geval, daar zit niets tussen. De afgevaardigden van het volk kunnen
daarom niet zijn representanten zijn, zij zijn slechts zijn zaakwaarnemers; er is niets waarover zij vrijelijk kunnen beslissen’. (.....) ‘het Engelse volk denkt vrij te zijn. Maar het vergist zich daar lelijk in. Vrij is het slechts op verkiezingsdag, daarna is het slaaf, niets. En in de zeldzame momenten dat het de vrijheid heeft, maakt het er een zodanig gebruik van dat het verdient die vrijheid te verliezen’. (Quoted by Frank Ankersmit in his Farewell Oration given on April 12th, 2010)

The more ingenious our apparatus, the coarser and more unskillful are our senses.

Trên hết, ta có thể nói rằng, trong tình trạng văn minh, con người còn thủ đắc thêm tự do luân lý mà chỉ có nó mới biến con người thành chủ nhân đích thực của chính mình, bởi vì chiều theo dục vọng là nô lệ, và tuân hành luật lệ do chính mình đặt ra là có được tự do.

ni acerca de un libro si es útil, sino si está bien escrito.