Every artists wants to be applauded

Liberty may be gained, but can never be recovered." (Bk2:8)

The people of England regards itself as free; but it is grossly mistaken; it is free only during the election of members of parliament. As soon as they are elected, slavery overtakes it, and it is nothing.

MAN is born free; and everywhere he is in chains. One thinks himself the master of others, and still remains a greater slave than they.

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)

What good would it be to possess the whole universe if one were its only survivor?

Nature made me happy and good, and if I am otherwise, it is society's fault.

Finance is a slave's word.

If force compels obedience, there is no need to invoke a duty to obey, and if force ceases to compel obedience, there is no longer any obligation.

Man is born free but today everywhere he is in chains.

The first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground, bethought himself of saying 'this is mine', and found people simple enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil society.

The first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground, bethought himself of saying 'this is mine', and found people simple enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil society.

The more ingenious our apparatus, the coarser and more unskillful are our senses.

There is peace in dungeons, but is that enough to make dungeons desirable?

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

[T]he man who meditates is a depraved animal.

To write a love letter, you have to start, without knowing, what you want to say, and end, without knowing what you have said.

My love for imaginary objects and my facility in lending myself to them ended by disillusioning me with everything around me, and determined that love of solitude which I have retained ever since that time.

Among the many short cuts to science, we badly need someone to teach us the art of learning with difficulty.

I can discover nothing in any mere animal but an ingenious machine, to which nature has given senses to wind itself up, and guard, to a certain degree, against everything that might destroy or disorder it.

I don't know how this lively and dumb scene would have ended , or how long I might have remained immoveable in this ridiculous and delightful situation , had we not been interrupted.

Happiness requires three things, a good bank account, a good cook, and good digestion.

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.

Nothing on this earth is worth buying at the price of human blood.

For if men needed speech in order to learn to think, they had a still greater need for knowing how to think in order to discover the art of speaking" - Rousseau

The strongest is never strong enough to be always the master, unless he transforms strength into right, and obedience into duty

More than half of my life is past; I have left only the time I need for turning the rest of it to account and for effacing my errors by my virtues.

It is difficult for an education in which the heart is involved to remain forever lost.

If he who has control of men ought not to control the laws, then he who controls the laws ought not control men: otherwise his laws would minister to his passions..

The first sentiment of man was that of his existence, his first care that of preserving it.

When one has suffered or fears suffering, one pities those who suffer; but when one is suffering, one pities only oneself.

It is pity in which the state of nature takes the place of laws, morals and virtues, with the added advantage that no one there is tempted to disobey its gentle voice.

It is pity in which the state of nature takes the place of laws, morals and virtues, with the added advantage that no one there is tempted to disobey its gentle voice.

God makes all things good; man meddles with them and they become evil.

To live is not to breathe but to act.

Liberty is like rich food and strong wine: the strong natures accustomed to them thrive and grow even stronger on them; but they deplete, inebriate and destroy the weak.

The former breathes only peace and liberty; he desires only to live and be free from labor; even the ataraxia of the Stoic falls far short of his profound indifference to every other object.

How could I become wicked, when I had nothing but examples of gentleness before my eyes, and none around me but the best people in the world?

Hatred, as well as love, renders its votaries credulous.

Gambling is only the resource of those who do not know what to do with themselves