I warn the reader that this chapter requires careful reading, and that I am unable to make myself clear to those who refuse to be attentive. - Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Ich hätte die Menschen auch geliebt, wenn sie es nicht gewollt hätten; sie konnten sich meiner Zuneigung nur dadurch entziehen, dass sie aufhörten, Mensch zu sein.

Every man having been born free and master of himself, no one else may under any pretext whatever subject him without his consent. To assert that the son of a slave is born a slave is to assert that he is not born a man.

There are two things to be considered with regard to any scheme. In the first place, “Is it good in itself” In the second, “Can it be easily put into practice?