Jean-Jacques Rousseau


Rousseau believed humans were naturally good but civilization and institutions were corrupting influences. In his book, The Social Contract, he asserted that the right to rule rested with the people. According to Rousseau, people had the right to remove the oppressive chains of society and create a government for the common good. The social contract dictated that people give up their individual rights to the general will of the majority.

Quotes by Jean-Jacques Rousseau:

"Man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains."

"The person who is slowest in making a promise is most faithful in its performance."

"The person who has lived the most is not the one with the most years but the one with the richest experiences.

Nature never deceives us; it is we who deceive ourselves."

"Virtue is a state of war, and to live in it we have always to combat with ourselves."

"The training of children is a profession, where we must know how to waste time in order to save it."

"Adversity is a great teacher, but this teacher makes us pay dearly for its instruction; and often the profit we derive, is not worth the price we paid."

"We are born weak, we need strength; helpless, we need aid; foolish, we need reason. All that we lack at birth, all that we need when we come to man's estate, is the gift of education."

"It is too difficult to think nobly when one thinks only of earning a living."

"At sixteen, the adolescent knows about suffering because he himself has suffered, but he barely knows that other beings also suffer."

"Remorse goes to sleep when we are in the enjoyment of prosperity, but makes itself felt in adversity."

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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