Jean-Jacques Rousseau Quotes
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was an 18th-century Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer whose work profoundly influenced political theory, education, literature, and the French Revolution. The Social Contract opens with his famous declaration that man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains, and develops a theory of legitimate political authority grounded in the general will. The quotes below are attributed to Jean-Jacques Rousseau, organized by topic.
Browse Jean-Jacques Rousseau by topic
Jean-Jacques Rousseau on Freedom
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Attributed to Jean-Jacques Rousseau:
“Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.”
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Attributed to Jean-Jacques Rousseau:
“I prefer liberty with danger to peace with slavery.”
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Attributed to Jean-Jacques Rousseau:
“To renounce liberty is to renounce being a man, to surrender the rights of humanity and even its duties.”
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Attributed to Jean-Jacques Rousseau:
“Free people, remember this maxim: we may acquire liberty, but it is never recovered if it is once lost.”
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“A country cannot subsist well without liberty , nor liberty without virtue .”
As quoted in A Dictionary of Thoughts: Being a Cyclopedia of Laconic Quotations from the Best Authors of the World, Both Ancient and Modern (1908) by Tryon Edwards , p. 301.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau on God
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“Accent is the soul of language ; it gives to it both feeling and truth.”
L'accent est l'âme du discours.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau on Knowledge
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Attributed to Jean-Jacques Rousseau:
“Plants are shaped by cultivation and men by education.”
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Attributed to Jean-Jacques Rousseau:
“People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little.”
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“Let's go dance under the elms: Step lively, young lassies. Let's go dance under the elms: Gallants, take up your pipes.”
Le devin du village (1752) -
“Le devin du village (1752)”
Let's go dance under the elms: Step lively, young lassies. Let's go dance under the elms: Gallants, take up your pipes. -
“L'accent est l'âme du discours.”
Accent is the soul of language ; it gives to it both feeling and truth. | English translation as quoted in A Dictionary of Thoughts: Being a Cyclopedia of Laconic Quotations from the Best Authors of the World, Both Ancient and Modern (1908) by Tryon Edwards , p. 2. -
“An honest man nearly always thinks justly.”
As quoted in A Dictionary of Thoughts: Being a Cyclopedia of Laconic Quotations from the Best Authors of the World, Both Ancient and Modern (1908) by Tryon Edwards , p. 277.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau on Mind
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Attributed to Jean-Jacques Rousseau:
“The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless.”
Jean-Jacques Rousseau on Nature
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Attributed to Jean-Jacques Rousseau:
“Nature never deceives us; it is we who deceive ourselves.”
Jean-Jacques Rousseau on Politics
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Attributed to Jean-Jacques Rousseau:
“The strongest is never strong enough to be always the master, unless he transforms strength into right, and obedience into duty.”
Jean-Jacques Rousseau on Time
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“All that time is lost which might be better employed.”
As quoted in A Dictionary of Quotations in Most Frequent Use: Taken Chiefly from the Latin and French, but comprising many from the Greek, Spanish, and Italian Languages, translated into English (1809) by David Evans Macdonnel
Jean-Jacques Rousseau on Virtue
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Attributed to Jean-Jacques Rousseau:
“Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.”
Things actually not said by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
A number of widely-shared lines are circulated as Jean-Jacques Rousseau but are in fact from someone else. Did Jean-Jacques Rousseau say these? No. Each entry below pairs the line with the person who actually wrote it.
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Did Jean-Jacques Rousseau say this? No.
“Insults are the arguments employed by those who are in the wrong.”
This sentence is widely circulated as Rousseau but has not been located in his major works or correspondence. The actual source has not been identified; the line appears to be a 20th-century English-language attribution.