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
goodness
Our will is always for our own good, but we do not always see what that is.
adversity either
When something an affliction happens to you, you either let it defeat you, or you defeat it.
nations people
Most nations, as well as people are impossible only in their youth; they become incorrigible as they grow older.
criminal hardest ridiculous
It is not the criminal things that are hardest to confess, but the ridiculous and the shameful.
majority-rule political minorities
It is unnatural for a majority to rule, for a majority can seldom be organized and united for specific action, and a minority can.
insult-to-injury comeback argument
Insults are the arguments employed by those who are in the wrong.
strength strong enough
The strongest is never strong enough to be always the master, unless he transforms strength into right, and obedience into duty.
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.
democracies-have democracy existence
In the strict sense of the term, a true democracy has never existed, and never will exist.
democracy politics
The general will is always right.
equality practice abuse
Equality is deemed by many a mere speculative chimera, which can never be reduced to practice. But if the abuse is inevitable, does it follow that we ought not to try at least to mitigate it? It is precisely because the force of things tends always to destroy equality that the force of the legislature must always tend to maintain it.
time might lost
All that time is lost which might be better employed.
time men citizens
One must choose between making a man or a citizen, for one cannot make both at the same time.
time might purpose
One loses all the time which he might employ to better purpose.