He who has the base necessities of life should pay nothing; taxation on him who has a surplus may, if need be; extend to everything beyond necessities. Jean-Jacques Rousseau More Quotes by Jean-Jacques Rousseau More Quotes From Jean-Jacques Rousseau Our greatest misfortunes come to us from ourselves. Jean-Jacques Rousseau misfortunes Living is not breathing but doing. Jean-Jacques Rousseau breathing life It is manifestly contrary to the law of nature, however defined, that a handful of people should gorge themselves with superfluities while the hungry majority goes in need of necessities. Jean-Jacques Rousseau majority law people Childhood has it's own way of seeing, thinking, and feeling, and nothing is more foolish than to try to substitute ours for theirs. Jean-Jacques Rousseau childhood feelings thinking A man says what he knows, a woman says what will please. Jean-Jacques Rousseau please women men Being wealthy isn't just a question of having lots of money. It's a question of what we want. Wealth isn't an absolute, it's relative to desire. Every time we seek something that we can't afford, we can be counted as poor, how much money we may actually have. Jean-Jacques Rousseau want desire may Trust your heart rather than your head. Jean-Jacques Rousseau trust-your-heart heart All kinds of frankness and honesty are terrible crimes in the eyes of society. Jean-Jacques Rousseau atheism honesty eye Do not judge, and you will never be mistaken. Jean-Jacques Rousseau diversity judging justice It is too difficult to think nobly when one thinks only of earning a living. Jean-Jacques Rousseau philosophical business life Virtue is a state of war, and to live in it we have always to combat with ourselves. Jean-Jacques Rousseau dignity virtue war The English people believes itself to be free; it is gravely mistaken; it is free only during election of members of parliament; as soon as the members are elected, the people is enslaved; it is nothing. In the brief moment of its freedom, the English people makes such a use of that freedom that it deserves to lose it. Jean-Jacques Rousseau freedom believe people To endure is the first thing that a child ought to learn, and that which he will have the most need to know. Jean-Jacques Rousseau philosophical learning children The only moral lesson which is suited for a child--the most important lesson for every time of life--is this: 'Never hurt anybody. Jean-Jacques Rousseau important hurt children The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless. Jean-Jacques Rousseau philosophical reality art The falsification of history has done more to impede human development than any one thing known to mankind. Jean-Jacques Rousseau development done education Everything is in constant flux on this earth. Nothing keeps the same unchanging shape, and our affections, being attached to things outside us, necessarily change and pass away as they do. Always out ahead of us or lagging behind, they recall a past which is gone or anticipate a future which may never come into being; there is nothing solid there for the heart to attach itself to. Thus our earthly joys are almost without exception the creatures of a moment. Jean-Jacques Rousseau heart joy past God is intelligent; but in what manner? Man is intelligent by the act of reasoning, but the supreme intelligence lies under no necessity to reason. He requires neither premise nor consequences; nor even the simple form of a proposition. His knowledge is purely intuitive. He beholds equally what is and what will be. All truths are to Him as one idea, as all places are but one point, and all times one moment. Jean-Jacques Rousseau intelligent lying knowledge To be sane in a world of madman is in itself madness. Jean-Jacques Rousseau madmen madness world Two things, almost incompatible, are united in me in a manner which I am unable to understand: a very ardent temperament, lively and tumultuous passions, and, at the same time, slowly developed and confused ideas, which never present themselves until it is too late. One might say that my heart and my mind do not belong to the same person. Jean-Jacques Rousseau confused passion heart
