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In truth, laws are always useful to those with possessions and harmful to those who have nothing; from which it follows that the social state is advantageous to men only when all possess something and none has too much.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless.
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU

Limitation Reality World
Everything is good as it comes from the hands of the Maker of the world, but degenerates once it gets into the hands of man
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU

Destroy Goodness Hands Man World
I am not made like any of those I have seen. I venture to believe that I am not made like any of those who are in existence. If I am not better, at least I am different.
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU

Believe Different Existence Myself See
But in some great souls, who consider themselves as citizens of the world, and forcing the imaginary barriers that separate people from people.
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU

Citizen Force Greatness Imagination People Philosophy Soul World
Nature made me happy and good, and if I am otherwise, it is society’s fault.
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU

Happiness Nature People
To write a good love letter, you ought to begin without knowing what you mean to say, and to finish without knowing what you have written.
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU

Beginning Goodness Love Writing
What good is it looking for our happiness in the opinion of others if we can find it in ourselves?
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU

Goodness Happiness Opinion Ourselves Philosophy Self Love
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.
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU

Believe Enough Greatness Himself People Pieces Reality Simplicity
I have never thought, for my part, that man’s freedom consists in his being able to do whatever he wills, but that he should not, by any human power, be forced to do what is against his will.
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU

Force Freedom Himself Human Man Myself Power Thinking Willing
If we assume man has been corrupted by an artificial civilization, what is the natural state? the state of nature from which he has been removed? imagine, wandering up and down the forest without industry, without speech, and without home.
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU

Civilization Deep Home Imagination Man Nature Philosophy
Nature never deceives us; it is always we who deceive ourselves.
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU

Nature Ourselves Perspective
The social pact, far from destroying natural equality, substitutes, on the contrary, a moral and lawful equality for whatever physical inequality that nature may have imposed on mankind; so that however unequal in strength and intelligence, men become equal by covenant and by right.
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU

Destroy Equality Intelligence Law Man Nature Strength
The people of England regards itself as free; but it is grossly mistaken; it is free only during the election of members of parliament. As soon as they are elected, slavery overtakes it, and it is nothing.
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU

Freedom Mistake People Slave
I perceive God everywhere in His works. I sense Him in me; I see Him all around me.
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU

God Himself Myself Religious Spiritual
Trust your heart rather than your head.
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU

Choice Heart Inspirational Trust
To renounce liberty is to renounce being a man, to surrender the rights of humanity and even its duties.
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU

Humanity Liberty Man Right