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To renounce liberty is to renounce being a man, to surrender the rights of humanity and even its duties.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

If force compels obedience, there is no need to invoke a duty to obey, and if force ceases to compel obedience, there is no longer any obligation.
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU

Force Need Obligation Philosophy
To live is not merely to breathe; it is to act; it is to make use of our organs, senses, faculties – of all those parts of ourselves which give us the feeling of existence.
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU

Act Breathe Existence Feeling Live Ourselves Philosophy Yourself
MAN is born free; and everywhere he is in chains. One thinks himself the master of others, and still remains a greater slave than they.
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU

Born Free Greatness Himself Man Slave Thinking
Oh, man! Live your own life and no longer be wretched!
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU

Life Live Man
All my misfortunes come of having thought too well of my fellows.
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU

Misfortune Myself Thinking Trust
The sociable man, always outside himself, is capable of living only in the opinions of others and, so to speak, derives the sentiment of his own existence solely from their judgment.
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU

Existence Himself Judgement Live Man Talk
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
It is a great evil for a Chief of a nation to be born the enemy of the freedom whose defender he should be.
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU

Born Enemy Evil Freedom Greatness Himself Nation
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
Man’s first law is to watch over his own preservation; his first care he owes to himself; and as soon as he reaches the age of reason, he becomes the only judge of the best means to preserve himself; he becomes his own master.
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU

Age Care Himself Judgement Law Man Philosophy Reason
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
To do is to be.
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU

Action One Liner
Or, rather, let us be more simple and less vain.
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU

Instagram Captions Simplicity
My love for imaginary objects and my facility in lending myself to them ended by disillusioning me with everything around me, and determined that love of solitude which I have retained ever since that time.
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU

Imagination Love Myself Solitude Time
The real world has its limits; the imaginary world is infinite. Unable to enlarge the one, let us restrict the other, for it is from the difference between the two alone that are born all the pains which make us truly unhappy.
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU

Alone Born Difference Happiness Limitation Oneself Pain Reality World
If there were a nation of Gods, it would govern itself democratically. A government so perfect is not suited to men.
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU

Democracy God Government Nation Perfection