What I had to say was so clear and I felt it so deeply that I am amazed by the tediousness, repetitiousness, verbiage, and disorder of this writing. … - Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Stellen wir uns als unbestreitbaren Grundsatz auf, dass die ersten natürlichen Triebe stets gut sind; es gibt im menschlichen Herzen keine angeborene Verderbtheit; es befindet sich in ihm kein einziges Laster, von dem man nicht sagen kann, wie und wodurch es in es eingedrungen ist.

If Sparta and Rome perished, what state can hope to live forever? Hence, if we wish to form a lasting institution, let us not think about making it eternal. In order to succeed we should not attempt the impossible, or flatter ourselves that we are giving the work of men a solidity that does not belong to human things.

Doubt with regard to what we ought to know is a condition too violent for the human mind; it cannot long be endured; in spite of itself the mind decides one way or another, and it prefers to be deceived rather than to believe nothing.