Jean-Jacques Rousseau

A feeble body weakens the mind.

Absolute silence leads to sadness. It is the image of death.

All of my misfortunes come from having thought too well of my fellows.

Although modesty is natural to man, it is not natural to children. Modesty only begins with the knowledge of evil.

Base souls have no faith in great individuals.

Childhood is the sleep of reason.

Do I dare set forth here the most important, the most useful rule of all education? It is not to save time, but to squander it.

Every man has a right to risk his own life for the preservation of it.

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 from a fire is guilty of suicide?

Falsehood has an infinity of combinations, but truth has only one mode of being.

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

Force does not constitute right... obedience is due only to legitimate powers.

Free people, remember this maxim: we may acquire liberty, but it is never recovered if it is once lost.

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.

Heroes are not known by the loftiness of their carriage; the greatest braggarts are generally the merest cowards.

How many famous and high-spirited heroes have lived a day too long?

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

I hate books; they only teach us to talk about things we know nothing about.