"Our affections as well as our bodies are in perpetual flux."
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Quote collection
Jean-Jacques Rousseau quotes (page 4 of 20)
388 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"There is no subjection so perfect as that which keeps the appearance of freedom."
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"Absolute silence leads to sadness. It is the image of death."
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"Heroes are not known by the loftiness of their carriage; the greatest braggarts are generally the merest cowards."
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"Let it not, therefore, be said that the Sovereign is not subject to the laws of his State; since the contrary is a true proposition of the right of nations, which flattery has sometimes attacked but good princes have always defended as the tutelary divinity of their dominions. How much more legitimate is it to say with the wise Plato, that the perfect felicity of a kingdom consists in the obedience of subjects to their prince, and of the prince to the laws, and in the laws being just and constantly directed to the public good!"
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"Slaves lose everything in their chains, even the desire of escaping from them."
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"Provided a man is not mad, he can be cured of every folly but vanity; there is no cure for this but experience, if indeed there is any cure for it at all."
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"Watch a cat when it enters a room for the first time. It searches and smells about, it is not quiet for a moment, it trusts nothing until it has examined and made acquaintance with everything."
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"From the first moment of life, men ought to begin learning to deserve to live; and, as at the instant of birth we partake of the rights of citizenship, that instant ought to be the beginning of the exercise of our duty."
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"One can buy anything with money except morality."
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"The only moral lesson which is suited for a child--the most important lesson for every time of life--is this: 'Never hurt anybody."
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"The one thing we do not know is the limit of the knowable."
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"The more humanity owes him, the more society denies him. Every door is shut against him, even when he has a right to its being opened: and if he ever obtains justice, it is with much greater difficulty than others obtain favors."
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"All of my misfortunes come from having thought too well of my fellows."
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"In the strict sense of the term, a true democracy has never existed, and never will exist."
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"All kinds of frankness and honesty are terrible crimes in the eyes of society."
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"Sovereigns always see with pleasure a taste for the arts of amusement and superfluity, which do not result in the exportation of bullion, increase among their subjects. They very well know that, besides nourishing that littleness of mind which is proper to slavery, the increase of artificial wants only binds so many more chains upon the people."
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"Rather suffer an injustice than commit one."
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"We have to have powder for our wigs; that is why so many poor people have no bread."
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"Peter had a genius for imitation; but he lacked true genius, which is creative and makes all from nothing."
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