The first man, who, after enclosing a piece of ground, took it into his head to say, This is mine, and found people simple enough to believe him, was the true founder of civil society.
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAUBut in some great souls, who consider themselves as citizens of the world, and forcing the imaginary barriers that separate people from people.
More Jean-Jacques Rousseau Quotes
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We cannot teach children the danger of lying to men without feeling as men, the greater danger of lying to children.
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In respect of riches, no citizen shall ever be wealthy enough to buy another, and none poor enough to be forced to sell himself.
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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.
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People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little.
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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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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
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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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One does not drink. One gives a kiss to his glass, and the wine returns a caress to you.
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To renounce liberty is to renounce being a man, to surrender the rights of humanity and even its duties.
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Trust your heart rather than your head.
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If there is in this world a well-attested account, it is that of vampires. Nothing is lacking: official reports, affidavits of well-known people, of surgeons, of priests, of magistrates; the judicial proof is most complete. And with all that, who is there who believes in vampires?
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To renounce freedom is to renounce one’s humanity, one’s rights as a man and equally one’s duties.
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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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Being wealthy isn’t just a question of having lots of money. It’s a question of what we want. Wealth isn’t an absolute, it’s relative to desire. Every time we seek something that we can’t afford, we can be counted as poor, how much money we may actually have.
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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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