"The science of government is only a science of combinations, of applications, and of exceptions, according to times, places and circumstances."
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Quote collection
Jean-Jacques Rousseau quotes (page 19 of 20)
388 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"He who eats in idleness that which he himself has not earned, steals it; and a capitalist whom the state pays for doing nothing differs little in my eyes from a brigand, who lives at the expense of passers-by."
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"I may not amount to much, but at least I am unique."
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"The political body, therefore, is also a moral being which has a will; and this general will, which tends always to the conservation and well-being of the whole and of each part of it ... is, for all members of the state ... the rule of what is just or unjust."
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"The writings of women are always cold and pretty like themselves. There is as much wit as you may desire, but never any soul."
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"I say to myself: "Who are you to measure infinite power?"
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"Since men cannot create new forces, but merely combine and control those which already exist, the only way in which they can preserve themselves is by uniting their separate powers in a combination strong enough to overcome any resistance, uniting them so that their powers are directed by a single motive and act in concert."
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"Ordinary readers, forgive my paradoxes: one must make them when one reflects; and whatever you may say, I prefer being a man with paradoxes than a man with prejudices."
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"Our will is always for our own good, but we do not always see what that is; the people is never corrupted, but it is often deceived, and on such occasions only does it seem to will what is bad."
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"Abstract truth is the eye of reason."
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"To try to conceal our own heart is a bad means to read that of others."
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"The general will is always right."
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"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."
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"I will say little of the importance of a good education; nor will I stop to prove that the current one is bad. Countless others have done so before me, and I do not like to fill a book with things everybody knows. I will note that for the longest time there has been nothing but a cry against the established practice without anyone taking it upon himself to propose a better one. The literature and the learning of our age tend much more to destruction than to edification."
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"There is not a single ill-doer who could not be turned to some good."
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"O love, if I regret the age when one savors you, it is not for the hour of pleasure, but for the one that follows it."
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"Men and women are made for each other, but their mutual dependence differs in degrees; man is dependent on woman through his desires; woman is dependent on man through her desires and also through her needs; he could do without her better than she can do without him. She cannot fulfill her purpose in life without his aid, without his goodwill, without his respect.....Nature herself has decreed that woman, both for herself and her children, should be at the mercy of man s judgment."
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"He who blushes is already guilty."
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"If there were a nation of Gods, it would govern itself democratically. A government so perfect is not suited to men."
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"The mechanism she employs is much more powerful than ours, for all her levers move the human heart."
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