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 ROUSSEAUThe 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.
More Jean-Jacques Rousseau Quotes
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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.
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I may be no better, but at least I am different.
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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.
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What wisdom can you find greater than kindness.
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It is pity in which the state of nature takes the place of laws, morals and virtues, with the added advantage that no one there is tempted to disobey its gentle voice.
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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.
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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.
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There is peace in dungeons, but is that enough to make dungeons desirable?
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Happiness requires three things, a good bank account, a good cook, and good digestion.
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Every person has a right to risk their own life for the preservation of it.
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I perceive God everywhere in His works. I sense Him in me; I see Him all around me.
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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.
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From this it follows that, the larger the State, the less the liberty.
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Truth is an homage that the good man pays to his own dignity.
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To do is to be.
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Trust your heart rather than your head.
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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.
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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.
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He who blushes is already guilty.
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Nothing on this earth is worth buying at the price of human blood.
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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.
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If there were a nation of Gods, it would govern itself democratically. A government so perfect is not suited to men.
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The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless.
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It is too difficult to think nobly when one thinks only of earning a living.
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What good would it be to possess the whole universe if one were its only survivor?
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There are times when I am so unlike myself that I might be taken for someone else of an entirely opposite character.
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