Those who read this will not fail to laugh at my gallantries, and remark, that after very promising preliminaries, my most forward adventures conclud… - Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Nikdy jsem nemyslil, že svoboda člověka by záležela v tom, aby dělal, co chce, nýbrž spíš, aby nikdy nedělal, co nechce, a to je svoboda, jíž jsem se vždy dovolával, často ji zachovával a pro kterou jsem byl nejvíce svým vrstevníkům k pohoršení

Why is man alone subject to becoming an imbecile? Is it not that he thereby returns to his primitive state, and that, while the animal which has acquired nothing and which also has nothing to lose, always retains its instinct, man, in losing through old age or other accidents all that his perfectibility has enabled him to acquire, thus falls even lower than the animal itself?

My meditations and reveries are never more delightful than when I forget myself. I feel ecstasies and inexpressible delight when I melt, so to speak, into the system of beings and identify myself with the whole of nature.