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 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 would rather be a man of paradoxes than a man of prejudices.
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He who pretends to look on death without fear lies. All men are afraid of dying, this is the great law of sentient beings, without which the entire human species would soon be destroyed.
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The man who meditates is a depraved animal.
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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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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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I hate books; they only teach us to talk about things we know nothing about.
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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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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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It is a great evil for a Chief of a nation to be born the enemy of the freedom whose defender he should be.
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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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He who blushes is already guilty.
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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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I hate books; they only teach us to talk about things we know nothing about.
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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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Oh, man! Live your own life and no longer be wretched!
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU