Quotations by:
    Rousseau, Jean-Jacques


A little bit of agitation gives motivation to the soul, and what really makes the species prosper is not peace so much as freedom.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) French philosopher and writer
(Attributed)
 
Added on 20-Jun-11 | Last updated 20-Jun-11
Link to this post | No comments
More quotes by Rousseau, Jean-Jacques

It is not hard to confess our criminal acts, but our ridiculous and shameful acts.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) French philosopher and writer
Confessions (1731-32)
 
Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 1-Feb-04
Link to this post | No comments
More quotes by Rousseau, Jean-Jacques

She had some experience of the world, and the capacity for reflection that makes such experience profitable.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) French philosopher and writer
Confessions, ch. 3 “1731-1732” (1781) [tr. Cohen (1953)]
 
Added on 29-Jan-10 | Last updated 29-Jan-10
Link to this post | No comments
More quotes by Rousseau, Jean-Jacques

One advantage resulting form virtuous actions is that they elevate the mind and dispose it to attempt others more virtuous still.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) French philosopher and writer
Confessions, ch. 3 (1731-32)

tr. J. M. Cohen, 1953
 
Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 1-Feb-04
Link to this post | No comments
More quotes by Rousseau, Jean-Jacques

I remembered the way out suggested by a great princess when told that the peasants had no bread: “Well, let them eat cake.”

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) French philosopher and writer
Confessions, ch. 6 (1781) [tr. Cohen (1953)]
 
Added on 1-Aug-12 | Last updated 1-Aug-12
Link to this post | No comments
More quotes by Rousseau, Jean-Jacques

The only moral lesson which is suited for a child — the most important lesson for every time of life — is this: “Never hurt anybody.”

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) French philosopher and writer
Emile (1762)
 
Added on 14-Jan-13 | Last updated 14-Jan-13
Link to this post | No comments
More quotes by Rousseau, Jean-Jacques

The risk is not in what he does not know, but in what he thinks he knows.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) French philosopher and writer
Emile, ch. 3 (1762) [tr. Foxley (1911)]
 
Added on 19-Apr-11 | Last updated 19-Apr-11
Link to this post | No comments
More quotes by Rousseau, Jean-Jacques

The first reward of justice is the consciousness that we are acting justly.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) French philosopher and writer
Emile, ch. 4 “The Creed of a Savoyard Priest” (1762) [tr. Foley (1911)]
 
Added on 11-Jul-11 | Last updated 11-Jul-11
Link to this post | No comments
More quotes by Rousseau, Jean-Jacques

The God whom I adore is not the God of darkness, he has not given me understanding in order to forbid me to use it; to tell me to submit my reason
is to insult the giver of reason.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) French philosopher and writer
Emile, ch. 4 “The Creed of a Savoyard Priest” (1762) [tr. Foxley (1911)]
    (Source)
 
Added on 1-Mar-13 | Last updated 1-Mar-13
Link to this post | No comments
More quotes by Rousseau, Jean-Jacques

Those who desire to treat politics and morals apart from one another will never understand either.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) French philosopher and writer
Emile, ch. 4 (1762) [tr. Foxley (1911)]
 
Added on 12-Oct-12 | Last updated 12-Oct-12
Link to this post | No comments
More quotes by Rousseau, Jean-Jacques

By doing good we become good.

Rousseau - doing good - wist_info quote

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) French philosopher and writer
Emile, ch. 4 (1762) [tr. Foxley (1911)]
 
Added on 19-Jan-16 | Last updated 19-Jan-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , ,
More quotes by Rousseau, Jean-Jacques

In all the ills which befall us, we look more at the intention than the effect. A tile which falls from the house may hurt more, but does not vex us so much as a stone thrown designedly by an ill-natured hand.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) French philosopher and writer
Reveries of a Solitary Walker (1782)
 
Added on 2-May-13 | Last updated 2-May-13
Link to this post | No comments
More quotes by Rousseau, Jean-Jacques

Man was born free; and everywhere he is in chains. One thinks himself the master of others, and still remains a greater slave than they.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) French philosopher and writer
The Social Contract, 1.1 (1762) [tr. Cole (1950)]
 
Added on 10-Apr-14 | Last updated 10-Apr-14
Link to this post | No comments
Topics:
More quotes by Rousseau, Jean-Jacques

Tranquility is found also in dungeons; but is that enough to make them desirable places to live in?

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) French philosopher and writer
The Social Contract, ch. 4 “Slavery” (1761)

Trans. G.D.H. Cole (1913). Full text.
 
Added on 8-May-08 | Last updated 8-May-08
Link to this post | No comments
More quotes by Rousseau, Jean-Jacques

Good laws lead to the making of better ones; bad ones bring about worse.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) French philosopher and writer
The Social Contract, pt. III, ch. 15 (1762)

trans. G.D.H. Cole (1913)
 
Added on 12-May-08 | Last updated 12-May-08
Link to this post | No comments
More quotes by Rousseau, Jean-Jacques