WIST Quotations

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques -- (Attributed)

Dave — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 13:04:42 +0000

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)

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques -- Confessions (1731-32)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

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)

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques -- Confessions, ch. 3 “1731-1732” (1781) [tr. Cohen (1953)]

Dave — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 12:59:37 +0000

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)]

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques -- Confessions, ch. 3 (1731-32)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

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

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques -- Confessions, ch. 6 (1781) [tr. Cohen (1953)]

Dave — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 12:04:24 +0000

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)]

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques -- Emile (1762)

Dave — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 15:05:28 +0000

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)

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques -- Emile, ch. 3 (1762) [tr. Foxley (1911)]

Dave — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 13:14:49 +0000

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)]

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques -- Emile, ch. 4 “The Creed of a Savoyard Priest” (1762) [tr. Foley (1911)]

Dave — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 12:48:28 +0000

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)]

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques -- Emile, ch. 4 “The Creed of a Savoyard Priest” (1762) [tr. Foxley (1911)]

Dave — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 13:09:42 +0000

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)]

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques -- Emile, ch. 4 (1762) [tr. Foxley (1911)]

Dave — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 14:17:41 +0000

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)]

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques -- Emile, ch. 4 (1762) [tr. Foxley (1911)]

Dave — Tue, 19 Jan 2016 14:18:28 +0000

By doing good we become good.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) French philosopher and writer
Emile, ch. 4 (1762) [tr. Foxley (1911)]

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques -- Julie, or the New Heloise [Julie ou la Nouvelle Héloïse], Part 1, Letter 46 (from Julie) (1761) [tr. Stewart / Vaché]

Dave — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 17:48:40 +0000

Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.

[La patience est amère, mais son fruit est doux.]

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) French philosopher and writer
Julie, or the New Heloise [Julie ou la Nouvelle Héloïse], Part 1, Letter 46 (from Julie) (1761) [tr. Stewart / Vaché]

Sometimes mis-cited to his Émile (1762). The sentiment is not necessarily original to Rousseau; the line is also credited to Aristotle, an ancient Chinese proverb, an ancient Persian proverb, etc.

The cited translation is from a newer source, but that way of wording it is extant by 1873. Another translation:

Patience is exceeding bitter; but its fruits are most delightfully sweet.
[tr. Kenrick (1784)]

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques -- Reveries of a Solitary Walker (1782)

Dave — Thu, 02 May 2013 13:22:17 +0000

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)

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques -- The Social Contract, 1.1 (1762) [tr. Cole (1950)]

Dave — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 16:07:43 +0000

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)]

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques -- The Social Contract, ch. 4 “Slavery” (1761)

Dave — Thu, 08 May 2008 10:33:18 +0000

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.

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques -- The Social Contract, pt. III, ch. 15 (1762)

Dave — Mon, 12 May 2008 10:26:24 +0000

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)