Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

23 quotes

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer, has become one of the most frequently quoted voices on subjects that matter. Whether reflecting on Nature or Men, Jean-Jacques Rousseau brought uncommon clarity to every subject. Browse 26 quotes by Jean-Jacques Rousseau that cover ground from Nature, Men, Knowledge, Education, and Death. One quote that captures their voice: "What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?"

“People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little.”

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Great

All Quotes by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Alone

“Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.”

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Patience

“No true believer could be intolerant or a persecutor. If I were a magistrate and the law carried the death penalty against atheists, I would begin by sending to the stake whoever denounced another.”

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Death

“We are born weak, we need strength helpless, we need aid foolish, we need reason. All that we lack at birth, all that we need when we come to man's estate, is the gift of education.”

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Education

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

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Famous

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

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Happiness

“Reading, solitude, idleness, a soft and sedentary life, intercourse with women and young people, these are perilous paths for a young man, and these lead him constantly into danger.”

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Women

“Take from the philosopher the pleasure of being heard and his desire for knowledge ceases.”

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Knowledge

“I have resolved on an enterprise that has no precedent and will have no imitator. I want to set before my fellow human beings a man in every way true to nature and that man will be myself.”

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Nature

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

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Nature

“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.”

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Age

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

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Death

“Virtue is a state of war, and to live in it we have always to combat with ourselves.”

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau

War

“People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little.”

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Great

“God made me and broke the mold.”

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau

God

“No man has any natural authority over his fellow men.”

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Men

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

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Knowledge

“Money is the seed of money, and the first guinea is sometimes more difficult to acquire than the second million.”

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Money

“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.”

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Education

“Base souls have no faith in great individuals.”

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Faith