Jean-Jacques Rousseau Quotes

بقدر ما كانت اللحظة التي أُوحيَ إليّ فيها بفكرة الفرار حزينة ، فإن اللحظة التي أقدمت فيها على تنفيذ الفكرة بدت مبهجة.

Men, despite all their ethics, would never be anything more than monsters if nature had not given them pity to bolster their reason.

mas también con la satisfacción interior, que experimentaba por vez primera, de poder decirme: “Merezco mi propia estimación; sé preferir mi deber a mi placer”.

"As soon as any man says of the affairs of the State "What does it matter to me?" the State may be given up for lost."

Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.

on ne connaît d'où est un homme qu'après qu'il a parlé.

It makes me feel very much what I believe I have said in some work, that remorse sleeps during a prosperous fate and grows sour in adversity.

Les gens qui passent exactement la vie entière à travailler pour vivre n'ont d'autre idée que celle de leur travail ou de leur intérêt, et tout leur esprit semble être au bout de leurs bras.

إني أتحمل بسهولة البلايا التي أصبت بها , لا تلك التي أخشى وقوعها , لأن مخيلتي المنفرة تنظمها وتبحثها وتزيدها , وأرتقاب البلايا يحز في نفسي أكثر من وقوعها

gratitude is a duty which ought to be paid but which none have a right to expect

Princes always are always happy to see developing among their subjects the taste for agreeable arts and for superfluities which do not result in the export of money. For quite apart from the fact that with these they nourish that spiritual pettiness so appropriate for servitude, they know very well that all the needs which people give themselves are so many chains binding them. When Alexander wished to keep the Ichthyophagi dependent on him, he forced them to abandon fishing and to nourish themselves on foods common to other people. And no one has been able to subjugate the savages in America, who go around quite naked and live only from what their hunting provides. In fact, what yoke could be imposed on men who have no need of anything?

I have entered upon a performance which is without example, whose
accomplishment will have no imitator. I mean to present my
fellow-mortals with a man in all the integrity of nature; and this man
shall be myself.

I know my heart, and have studied mankind; I am not made like any one I
have been acquainted with, perhaps like no one in existence; if not
better, I at least claim originality, and whether Nature did wisely in
breaking the mould with which she formed me, can only be determined after
having read this work.

Whenever the last trumpet shall sound, I will present myself before the
sovereign judge with this book in my hand, and loudly proclaim, thus have
I acted; these were my thoughts; such was I. With equal freedom and
veracity have I related what was laudable or wicked, I have concealed no
crimes, added no virtues; and if I have sometimes introduced superfluous
ornament, it was merely to occupy a void occasioned by defect of memory:
I may have supposed that certain, which I only knew to be probable, but
have never asserted as truth, a conscious falsehood. Such as I was, I
have declared myself; sometimes vile and despicable, at others, virtuous,
generous and sublime; even as thou hast read my inmost soul: Power
eternal! assemble round thy throne an innumerable throng of my
fellow-mortals, let them listen to my confessions, let them blush at my
depravity, let them tremble at my sufferings; let each in his turn expose
with equal sincerity the failings, the wanderings of his heart, and, if
he dare, aver, I was better than that man.

My passions are extremely violent; while under their influence, nothing can equal my impetuosity; I am an absolute stranger to discretion, respect, fear, or decorum; rude, saucy, violent, and intrepid: no shame can stop, no danger intimidate me. My mind is frequently so engrossed by a single object, that beyond it the whole world is not worth a thought; this is the enthusiasm of a moment, the next, perhaps, I am plunged in a state of annihilation. Take me in my moments of tranquility,

Sovereignty, for the same reason as makes it inalienable, cannot be represented; it lies essentially in the general will, and will does not admit of representation: it is either the same, or other; there is no intermediate possibility. The
deputies of the people, therefore, are not and cannot be its representatives: they are merely its stewards, and can carry through no definitive acts. Every law the people has not ratified in person is null and void — is in fact, not a law. The people of England regards itself as free; but it is grossly mistaken; it is free only during the election of members of parliament. As soon as they are elected,
slavery overtakes it, and it is nothing. The use it makes of the short moments of liberty it enjoys shows indeed that it deserves to lose them.

Résumons en quatre mots le pacte social des deux états. Vous avez besoin de moi, car je suis riche et vous êtes pauvre ; faisons donc un accord entre nous : je permettrai que vous ayez l'honneur de me servir, à condition que vous me donnerez le peu qui vous reste pour la peine que je prendrai de vous commander.