Jean-Jacques Rousseau Quotes

208 Sourced Quotes

We cannot teach children the danger of telling lies to men without realising, on the man's part, the danger of telling lies to children. A single untruth on the part of the master will destroy the results of his education.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
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.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Complete ignorance with regard to certain matters is perhaps the best thing for children; but let them learn very early what it is impossible to conceal from them permanently. Either their curiosity must never be aroused, or it must be satisfied before the age when it becomes a source of danger. Your conduct towards your pupil in this respect depends greatly on his individual circumstances, the society in which he moves, the position in which he may find himself, etc. Nothing must be left to chance; and if you are not sure of keeping him in ignorance of the difference between the sexes till he is sixteen, take care you teach him before he is ten.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
At Genoa, the word Liberty may be read over the front of the prisons and on the chains of the galley-slaves. This application of the device is good and just. It is indeed only malefactors of all estates who prevent the citizen from being free. In the country in which all such men were in the galleys, the most perfect liberty would be enjoyed.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
As soon as we have contrived to give our pupil an idea of the word "Useful," we have got an additional means of controlling him, for this word makes a great impression on him, provided that its meaning for him is a meaning relative to his own age, and provided he clearly sees its relation to his own well-being. This word makes no impression on your scholars because you have taken no pains to give it a meaning they can understand, and because other people always undertake to supply their needs so that they never require to think for themselves, and do not know what utility is. "What is the use of that?"

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Reason developed and cultivated will always be the most powerful curb to the passions: this is the compass of all mankind.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
The moment past is no longer: the future may never be: the present is all of which man is the master.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
What is it that renders friendship between women so lukewarm and of so short duration? It is the interests of love and the jealousy of conquest.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
The animals you eat are not those who devour others; you do not eat the carnivorous beasts, you take them as your pattern. You only hunger for the sweet and gentle creatures which harm no one, which follow you, serve you, and are devoured by you as the reward of their service.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
It is the path of the passions which has led me to philosophy.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Gracefulness cannot subsist without ease; delicacy is not debility; nor must a woman be sick in order to please. Infirmity, and sickness may excite our pity, but desire and pleasure require the bloom and vigor of health.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
To live is not to breathe but to act. It is to make use of our organs, our senses, our faculties, of all the parts of ourselves which give us the sentiment of our existence. The man who has lived the most is not he who has counted the most years but he who has most felt life.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Gratitude is indeed a duty which we are bound to pay, but which benefactors cannot exact.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Those who think themselves the masters of others are indeed greater slaves than they.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
So long as chastity is preserved, it is respected; it is despised only after having been lost.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
The source of all passions is sensitiveness: it is the errors of imagination that transform them into vices.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
With children use force; with men reason; such is the natural order of things. The wise man requires no law.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Visions are a feeble resource, you will say, against great adversity! Oh Sir, these visions may possibly have more reality than all those apparent goods about which men make so much ado, for they never bring a true feeling of happiness to the soul, and those who possess them are equally forced to project themselves into the future for want of finding enjoyments that satisfy them, in the present.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
A man says what he knows, a woman says what will please.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
There is no folly of which a man who is not a fool cannot get rid except vanity; of this nothing cures a man except experience of its bad consequences, if indeed anything can cure it.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
The visible order of the universe proclaims a supreme intelligence.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Perhaps adversity is a great teacher, but he charges a high price for his lessons, and often the profit we take from them is not worth the price they have cost us.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
The happiest is he who suffers least; the most miserable is he who enjoys least.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
I can only meditate when I am walking. When I stop, I cease to think; my mind works only with my legs.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
There are two things to be considered with regard to any scheme. In the first place, Is it good in itself? In the second, Can it be easily put into practice?

Jean-Jacques Rousseau