Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseauwas a Francophone Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of the 18th century. His political philosophy influenced the Enlightenment in France and across Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolution and the overall development of modern political and educational thought...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth28 June 1712
CityGeneva, Switzerland
CountryFrance
melting delirium ecstasy
I feel an indescribable ecstasy and delirium in melting, as it were, into the system of being, in identifying myself with the whole of nature..
peace men thinking
Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains. Those who think themselves the masters of others are indeed greater slaves than they.
made
There is no evildoer who could not be made good for something.
riches citizens enough
...in respect of riches, no citizen shall ever be wealthy enough to buy another, and none poor enough to be forced to sell himself.
chains
Freedom is the power to choose our own chains
sympathy philosophy philosophical
We pity in others only the those evils which we ourselves have experienced.
desire may want
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.
death lying men
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.
listening earth fruit
Beware of listening to this impostor; you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody.
taxation may pay
He who has the base necessities of life should pay nothing; taxation on him who has a surplus may, if need be; extend to everything beyond necessities.
political body unjust
The political body, therefore, is also a moral being which has a will; and this general will, which tends always to the conservation and well-being of the whole and of each part of it ... is, for all members of the state ... the rule of what is just or unjust.
sleep atmosphere prosperity
Remorse sleeps in the atmosphere of prosperity.
mean body refuse
Whoever refuses to obey the general will will be forced to do so by the entire body; this means merely that he will be forced to be free.
money giving pursue
The money you have gives you freedom; the money you pursue enslaves you.