He aquí el estudio a que me he aplicado con preferencia, para que, aún suponiendo mi mėtodo enteramente falso, se obtenga siempre beneficio de mis ob… - Jean-Jacques Rousseau

"Bien sea de hombre a hombre, bien sea de hombre a pueblo, siempre será igualmente descabellado este discurso: "Celebro contigo un contrato en el cual todos los deberes están a tu cargo y todos los beneficios están a mi favor; contrato, que respetaré mientras se me dé la gana y que tú observarás mientras se me dé la gana"."

In addition to all that, a man may have any opinions he likes without that being any of the sovereign’s business. Having no standing in the other world, the sovereign has no concern with what may lie in wait for its subjects in the life to come, provided they are good citizens in this life.

The first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground, bethought himself of saying 'this is mine', and found people simple enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil society.