Jean-Jacques Rousseau Quotes

Das Glück der Menschen ist also hienieden nur ein negativer Zustand; es lässt sich nur nach der geringeren Anzahl der Übel ermessen, unter denen wir leiden.

Unsere körperlichen Übel zerstören sich selbst oder sie zerstören uns. Die Zeit oder der Tod sind unsere Heilmittel. Aber wir leiden umso mehr, je weniger wir zu leiden verstehen.

Meine Leiden sind das Werk der Natur, mein Glück aber ist mein Werk. Was man auch sagen mag, ich bin weise gewesen, denn ich bin glücklich gewesen, sosehr meine Natur es mir zu sein erlaubte.

Der wirklich freie Mensch will nur, was er vermag, und tut nur, was ihm gefällt.

It is not so much the understanding that constitutes the specific difference between the man and the brute, as the human quality of freedom...and it is particularly in his consciousness of this liberty that the spirituality of his soul is displayed. For physics may explain in some degree the mechanism of the senses and the formation of ideas; but in the power of willing or rather of choosing, and in the feeling of this power, nothing is to be found but acts which are purely spiritual and wholly inexplicable by the laws of mechanism

Der Mensch ist frei geboren, und überall ist er in Ketten. Mancher glaubt, er sei der Herr der anderen, und ist trotzdem mehr Sklave als sie.

Necessity raised up thrones; the arts and sciences have made them strong

It is a bad mark against a society that those who lead it need so much Science; if men were what they ought to be, they would scarcely need to study in order to learn the things they have to do.

Laws are, properly speaking, only the conditions of civil association.

Alles, was ein Mensch sein muss, wird er im Bedarfsfall so schnell wie jeder andere auch lernen; und mag auch das Schicksal ihn seinen Platz wechseln lassen, er wird immer an dem seinigen sein.

Let us listen to the inner voice of feeling; what healthy mind can reject its evidence? I believe, therefore, that the world is governed by a wise and powerful will; I see it or rather I feel it, and it is a great thing to know this. I see God everywhere in his works; I feel him within myself. Again, I know that I am a free, active being. In vain do you argue this point with me; I feel it, and it is this feeling which speaks to me more forcibly than the reason which disputes it.

It is not so much the understanding that constitutes the specific difference between the man and the brute, as the human quality of freedom...and it is particularly in his consciousness of this liberty that the spirituality of his soul is displayed. For physics may explain in some degree the mechanism of the senses and the formation of ideas; but in the power of willing or rather or choosing, and in the feeling of this power, nothing is to be found but acts which are purely spiritual and wholly inexplicable by the laws of mechanism

Our gardens are decorated with statues and our galleries with paintings. What do you think these artistic masterpieces on show for public admiration represent? The defenders of our country? Or those even greater men who have enriched it with their virtues? No. They are images of all the errors of the heart and mind, carefully derived from ancient mythology, and presented to our children's curiosity at a young age, no doubt so that they may have right before their eyes models of bad actions even before they know how to read.

Ich liebe mich schließlich selbst zu sehr, um jemanden hassen zu können, wer es auch sei. Das hieße ja, mein Dasein einzuengen, es zusammenzuziehen, wo ich es doch lieber auf das gesamte Universum ausdehnen möchte.

The weaker the body, the more it commands, the stronger it is, the more it obeys. All the sensual passions lodge in effeminated bodies. They become more inflamed to the extent that the body can satisfy them less