I am a hundred times happier in my solitude than I could be if I lived among them.
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAUThe 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.
More Jean-Jacques Rousseau Quotes
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I hate books; they only teach us to talk about things we know nothing about.
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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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To do is to be.
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Nature never deceives us; it is always we who deceive ourselves.
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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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To renounce liberty is to renounce being a man, to surrender the rights of humanity and even its duties.
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Truth is an homage that the good man pays to his own dignity.
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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.
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What good is it looking for our happiness in the opinion of others if we can find it in ourselves?
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In any real democracy, magistracy isn’t a benefit—it’s a burdensome responsibility that can’t fairly be imposed on one individual rather than another.
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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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What, then, is the government? An intermediary body established between the subjects and the sovereign for their mutual communication, a body charged with the execution of the laws and the maintenance of freedom, both civil and political.
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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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Trust your heart rather than your head.
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I hate books; they only teach us to talk about things we know nothing about.
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU