Jean-Jacques Rousseau Quotes

لقد ولد الإنسان ليعمل لا ليفكر..
إن التفكير لا يجعل منه إلا إنسانا تعيسا ولا يجعله أفضل او أعقل.
إن التفكير يجعله يندم على الأشياء التي أضاعها و يحرمه من التمتع بحاضره .
و التفكير يزين له المستقبل التعيس ليجعله يحس بذلك قبل وقوعه..
إن الدراسة تفسد أخلاقه و تمرض صحته و تحطم مزاجه و تميع حجته..
و إذا ما كانت تعلمه شيئا ما فإني أجد أنها تضر به أكثر مما تعلمه

A child who passes through many hands in turn, can never be well brought up. At every change he makes a secret comparison, which continually tends to lessen his respect for those who control him, and with it their authority over him. If once he thinks there are grown-up people with no more sense than children the authority of age is destroyed and his education is ruined.

An unbroken horse erects his mane, paws the ground and starts back impetuously at the sight of the bridle; while one which is properly trained suffers patiently even whip and spur: so savage man will not bend his neck to the yoke to which civilised man submits without a murmur, but prefers the most turbulent state of liberty to the most peaceful slavery. We cannot therefore, from the servility of nations already enslaved, judge of the natural disposition of mankind for or against slavery; we should go by the prodigious efforts of every free people to save itself from oppression. I know that the former are for ever holding forth in praise of the tranquillity they enjoy in their chains, and that they call a state of wretched servitude a state of peace: miserrimam servitutem pacem appellant. But when I observe the latter sacrificing pleasure, peace, wealth, power and life itself to the preservation of that one treasure, which is so disdained by those who have lost it; when I see free-born animals dash their brains out against the bars of their cage, from an innate impatience of captivity; when I behold numbers of naked savages, that despise European pleasures, braving hunger, fire, the sword and death, to preserve nothing but their independence, I feel that it is not for slaves to argue about liberty.

حتى لو كان في وسع الفلاسفة أن يكتشفوا الحقيقة من منهم يهتم بها؟ كل واحد منهم يعلم أن مقولته ليست أوثق تأصيلاً من غيرها، لكنه يتشبث بها لأنها من إبداعه. لا واحد منهم حتى لو تبين الحق وميزه عن الباطل، يفضل الحق الذي أبدعه غيره عن الباطل الذي اخترعه هو. أين الفيلسوف الذي يتورع عن خداع النوع البشري إن كان في ذلك إنقاذ لسمعته؟ أين الفيلسوف الذي في قرارة قلبه يتوخى غير الشهرة والنبوغ؟ كل ما يصبو إليه هو أن يسمو عن العامة، وأن يطفئ نوره نور أقرانه. لا يهمه سوى مخالفة الغير، إن كان بين المؤمنين فهو ملحد، وإن كان بين الملحدين فهو مؤمن.

To renounce freedom is to renounce one's humanity, one's rights as a man and equally one's duties.

"Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. One man thinks himself the master of others, but remains more of a slave than they are."
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When the people shall have nothing more to eat, they will eat the rich.

There is peace in dungeons, but is that enough to make dungeons desirable?

"I say to myself: "Who are you to measure infinite power?

If there is in this world a well-attested account, it is that of vampires. Nothing is lacking: official reports, affidavits of well-known people, of surgeons, of priests, of magistrates; the judicial proof is most complete. And with all that, who is there who believes in vampires?

انزع من قلب الإنسان حب الجمال تسلب الحياة روعتها وجاذبيتها.

People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little. It is plain than an ignorant person thinks everything he does know important, and he tells it to everybody. But a well-educated man is not so ready to display his learning; he would have too much to say, and he sees that there is much more to be said, so he holds his peace.

"Liberty may be gained, but can never be recovered." (Bk2:8)

يا مكوّن الأكوان, أنا موجود لأنك موجود, إن أصررت على تأمل ذلك فلأني متعطش إلى المنبع توّاق إلى عين الحق. أعزّ ما أجني من استعمال العقل هو التفاني في جلالك. إن عقلي لينبهر, ويحلو لي القصور والعجز إذ أشعر بعزك وجبروتك.

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