Jean-Jacques Rousseau quotes
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778): Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. The library holds 86 quotes by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, drawn from Days of Absence. The 60 below are the most quoted; search the library in the maker for the rest.
Often about: life, faith, health, family, freedom, power
The best-known Jean-Jacques Rousseau quotes
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The want of occupation is no less the plague of society than of solitude.
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It is well known that a loose and easy dress contributes much to give to both sexes those fine proportions of body that are observable in the Grecian statues, and which serve as models to our present artists.
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We pity in others only those evils which we have ourselves experienced.
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Days of absence, sad and dreary, Clothed in sorrow’s dark array,—Days of absence, I am weary: She I love is far away.
Days of Absence -
He is best served who has no need to put the hands of others at the end of his arms.
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How many illustrious and noble heroes have lived too long by a day!
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He who is slow in promising is always the most faithful in performing.
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It is the way in which our ideas are formed that a character is imparted to our minds.
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To be able to endure is the first lesson which a child ought to learn, and the one which it will have the most need to know.
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To endure is the first and most necessary lesson a child has to learn.
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Great men never make a bad use of their superiority; they see it, they feel it, and are not less modest. The more they have, the more they know their own deficiencies.
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We may acquire liberty, but it is never recovered if it is once lost.
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To write a good love-letter, you ought to begin without knowing what you mean to say, and to finish without knowing what you have written.
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All our evils are imaginary, except pain of body and remorse of conscience.
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It is too difficult to think nobly when one thinks only to get a livelihood.
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The mind grows narrow in proportion as the soul grows corrupt.
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The man who is truly free wills only what he can, and does only what pleases him.
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The way in which we form our ideas gives character to our minds.
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Kings wish to be absolute, and they are sometimes told that the best way to become so is to make themselves beloved by the people; but the maxim, unhappily, is laughed at in court.
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There is a period of life when our backward movements are steps in advance.
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Conscience is the voice of the soul; the passions, of the body.
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Most nations, as well as men, are impressible only in their youth; they become incorrigible as they grow old.
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Nothing is less in our power than the heart, and, far from commanding it, we are forced to obey it.
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The being whose strength exceeds its necessities is strong; the being whose necessities exceed its strength is feeble.
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We ought not to teach children the sciences, but to give them a taste for them.
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Everything is good as it comes from the hands of the Creator; everything degenerates in the hands of man.
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If the life and death of Socrates were those of a sage, the life and death of Jesus were those of a God.
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Accent is the soul of speech; it gives it feeling and truth.
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He who is most slow in making a promise is the most faithful in the performance of it.
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Our affections, as well as our bodies, are in perpetual flux.
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The body politic, like the body of man, begins to die as soon as it is born, and bears within it the seeds of its own dissolution.
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Knowledge is most surely engraved on brains well prepared for it.
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Consolation indiscreetly pressed only aggravates the poignancy of the affliction.
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People once accustomed to masters are no longer able to dispense with them.
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I think we cannot too strongly attack superstition, which is the disturber of society; nor too highly respect genuine religion, which is the support of it.
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The science of government is only a science of combinations, applications, and exceptions, according to time, place, and circumstance.
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Adversity is without doubt a great teacher, but this teacher makes us pay dear for his instructions, and often the profit we derive from them is not worth the price we are required to pay.
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The apparent facility of learning is a reason why children are lost.
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Free people, remember this rule: you may acquire liberty, but never regain it if you once lose it.
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Take from the philosopher the pleasure of being heard, and his desire for knowledge ceases.
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If there were a community of gods, the government would be democratic. A government so perfect is not suitable for men.
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It is from the difference we feel between the finitude of fact and the infinitude of fantasy that all the evils spring which torment humanity.
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He is best served who has no need to put other people’s hands at the end of his arms.
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The pedant and the teacher say nearly the same things; but the former on every occasion, the latter only when he is sure of their effect.
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Gratitude is a duty which ought to be paid, but which none have a right to expect.
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Towns are the dwelling-places of profane mortals; the gods inhabit rural retreats.
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By dint of dining out, I run the risk of dying by starvation at home.
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A man who means to keep his promises can’t afford to make many.
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The English think they are free; they are free only during the election of members of Parliament.
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Interest is the spur of the people, but glory that of great souls.
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The use we make of happiness gives us an eternal sentiment of satisfaction or repentance.
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To be poor without being free is the worst condition into which man can sink.
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The greatest braggards are generally the greatest cowards.
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The contract of government is so dissolved by despotism, that the despot is master only so long as he is the strongest, and that as soon as there is power to expel him, he has no right to protest against the violent proceeding.
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Temperance and labour are the two real physicians of man.
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Temperance and labour are the two best physicians of man.
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The English are predisposed to pride, the French to vanity.
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Life is burdensome to us chiefly from the abuse of it.
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General abstract truth is the most precious of all blessings; without it man is blind; it is the eye of reason.
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Physical evils destroy themselves, or they destroy us.