Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Born: June 28, 1712

Died: July 2, 1778

Nationality: French

Occupation: Philosopher

Biography: Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of 18th-century Romanticism of French expression. His political philosophy influenced the French Revolution as well as the overall development of modern political, sociological and educational thought.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

“Nature does not deceive us; it is we who deceive ourselves.”

- Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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Jean-Jacques Rousseau

“Temperance and labor are the two true physicians of man.”

- Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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Jean-Jacques Rousseau

“I also realized that the philosophers, far from ridding me of my vain doubts, only multiplied the doubts that tormented me and failed to remove any one of them. So I chose another guide and said, Let me follow the Inner Light; it will not lead me so far astray as others have done, or if it does it will be my own fault, and I shall not go so far wrong if I follow my own illusions as if I trusted to their deceits.”

- Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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Jean-Jacques Rousseau

“Do not judge and you will never be mistaken.”

- Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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Jean-Jacques Rousseau

“The first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground, bethought himself of saying This is mine, and found people simple enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes might not anyone have saved mankind, by pulling up the stakes, or filling up the ditch, and crying to his fellows, 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.”

- Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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Jean-Jacques Rousseau

“Luxury... corrupts at once rich and poor, the rich by possession and the poor by covetousness.”

- Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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Jean-Jacques Rousseau

“Everything is good as it leaves the hands of the Author of things; everything degenerates in the hands of man. He forces one soil to nourish the products of another, one tree to bear the fruit of another. He mixes and confuses the climates, the elements, the seasons. He mutilates his dog, his horse, his slave. He turns everything upside down; he disfigures everything; he loves deformity, monsters. He wants nothing as nature made it, not even man; for him, man must be trained like a school horse; man must be fashioned in keeping with his fancy like a tree in his garden.”

- Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Source/Notes: Émile (1762), Book 1
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Jean-Jacques Rousseau

“At length I recollected the thoughtless saying of a great princess, who, on being informed that the country people had no bread, replied, 'Then let them eat cake.”

- Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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Jean-Jacques Rousseau

“If we take the term in the strict sense, there never has been a real democracy, and there never will be. It is against the natural order for the many to govern and the few to be governed. It is unimaginable that the people should remain continually assembled to devote their time to public affairs, and it is clear that they cannot set up commissions for that purpose without the form of administration being changed.”

- Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Source/Notes: Du Contrat Social (1762), Book 3, Chapter 4
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Jean-Jacques Rousseau

“I am commencing an undertaking, hitherto without precedent, and which will never find an imitator. I desire to set before my fellows the likeness of a man in all the truth of nature, and that man myself.”

- Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Source/Notes: Confessions (1782), Book 1
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Jean-Jacques Rousseau

“The first person who, having fenced off a plot of ground, took it into his head to say this is mine and found people simple enough to believe him, was the true founder of civil society.”

- Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Source/Notes: Discourse on the Origins and Foundations of Inequality Among Men pt. 2 (1755)
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Jean-Jacques Rousseau

“Good laws lead to the making of better ones; bad ones bring about worse. As soon as any man says of the affairs of the State What does it matter to me? the State may be given up for lost.”

- Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Source/Notes: Du Contrat Social (1762), Book 3, Chapter 15
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Jean-Jacques Rousseau

“The strongest is never strong enough to be always the master, unless he transforms strength into right, and obedience into duty. Hence the right of the strongest, which, though to all seeming meant ironically, is really laid down as a fundamental principle.”

- Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Source/Notes: Du Contrat Social (1762), Book 1, Chapter 3
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Jean-Jacques Rousseau

“Censorship may be useful for the preservation of morality, but can never be so for its restoration.”

- Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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