Quotes by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

“Every man has the right to risk his own life in order to preserve it. Has it ever been said that a man who throws himself out the window to escape a fire is guilty of suicide?”

“He who is the most slow in making a promise is the most faithful in the performance of it.”

“However great a man's natural talent may be, the act of writing cannot be learned all at once.”

“The word ‘slavery’ and ‘right’ are contradictory, they cancel each other out. Whether as between one man and another, or between one man and a whole people, it would always be absurd to say: "I her...”

“Why do you consult [women's] words when it is not their mouths that speak? Consult their eyes, their colour, their breathing, their timid manner, their slight resistance, that is the language natur...”

“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..." (Bk2:3)”

“I hate books they teach us only to talk about what we do not know.”

“If the life and death of Socrates were those of a sage the life and death of Jesus were those of a God.”

“Fame is but the breath of the people and that often unwholesome.”

“The happiest is he who suffers the least pain the most miserable he who enjoys the least pleasure.”

“I may not amount to much but at least I am unique.”

“Gratitude is a duty which ought to be paid but which none have a right to expect.”

“Happiness: a good bank account a good cook and a good digestion.”

“Whoever blushes is already guilty true innocence is ashamed of nothing.”

“Nature never deceives us it is we who deceive ourselves.”

“Plant and your spouse plants with you weed and you weed alone.”