Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78) was a Swiss-born French philosopher, author, political theorist, and composer. In many respects an original and contentious thinker, Rousseau’s significant works raised deep-seated questions in the fields of ethics, education, politics, and aesthetics. He ranks as one of the greatest intellectuals of the French Enlightenment and the Romantic generation.
Rousseau’s original thinking was that humans are by nature good, but are soiled by society. He endorsed a humanistic and progressive educational system that would develop the natural interests and potential of the child.
Born in Geneva, Switzerland, Rousseau had no formal education. In 1741, he moved to Paris to make a living from clerical work and music-copying. He became acquainted with Voltaire and Denis Diderot and contributed articles on music and political economy to the Encyclopédie.
In the 1750s, Rousseau came to fame with his Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men (1754) and other essays that were highly critical of the existing social order. He expressed his belief in the fundamental goodness of human nature, summarized in the concept of the “noble savage,” and the warping effects of civilization.
In 1762, Rousseau published his masterpiece, Du contrat social (A Treatise on the Social Contract, 1764,) which anticipated much of the thinking of the French Revolution. Social Contract argues for a version of the sovereignty of the whole citizen body over itself, expressing its legislative intent through the general will. One of Rousseau’s most notable axioms, “Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains,” comes from the Social Contract and has been a rallying-cry for rebels and reformers ever since.
In his novel Émile (1762,) Rousseau formulated new educational philosophies giving the child full scope for individual development in natural surroundings, protected from the corrupting influences of civilization.
Rousseau is also noted for his Les Confessions (1782–89; Confessions, 1783–91,) one of the earliest autobiographies. In 1794, his remains were placed alongside those of Voltaire in Paris’s Pantheon.
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Do to others as you would have others do to you, inspires all men with that other maxim of natural goodness a great deal less perfect, but perhaps more useful: Do good to yourself with as little prejudice as you can to others.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Topics: Doing
Take from the philosopher the pleasure of being heard and his desire for knowledge ceases.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Topics: Philosophy, Science
A person who knows little likes to talk, and one who knows much mostly keeps silent. This is because a person who knows little thinks that everything he knows is important, and wants to tell everyone. A person who knows much also knows that there is much more he doesn’t know. That’s why he speaks only when it is necessary to speak, and when he is not asked questions, he keeps his silence.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Yes, if the life and death of Socrates are those of a wise man, the life and death of Jesus are those of a god.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Happiness: A good bank account, a good cook, and a good digestion.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Endurance and to be able to endure is the first lesson a child should learn because it’s the one they will most need to know.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Topics: Endurance
The thirst after happiness is never extinguished in the heart of a man.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Topics: Happiness, Goals
Base souls have no faith in great individuals.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Topics: Faith
Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Topics: Patience
Our greatest evils flow from ourselves.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Topics: Evil
That which renders life burdensome to us, generally arises from the abuse of it.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Every person has a right to risk their own life for the preservation of it.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
The tone of good conversation is brilliant and natural.—It is neither tedious nor frivolous.—It is instructive without pedantry; gay, without tumultuousness; polished, without affectation; gallant, without insipidity; waggish, without equivocation.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Topics: Conversation
People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Topics: Wisdom, Greatness, People
Cities are the abyss of the human species.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
The first step towards vice is to shroud innocent actions in mystery, and whoever likes to conceal something sooner or later has reason to conceal it.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
The mind grows narrow in proportion as the soul grows corrupt.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
The features come insensibly to be formed and assume their shape from the frequent and habitual expression of certain affections of the soul. These affections are marked on the countenance; nothing is more certain than this; and when they turn into habits, they must leave on it durable impressions.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
It is not the criminal things that are hardest to confess, but the ridiculous and the shameful.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Topics: Honesty
Nature never deceives us; it is we who deceive ourselves.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Topics: Nature, Truth
The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless.—Not being able to enlarge the one, let us contract the other; for it is from their difference that all the evils arise which render us unhappy.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Topics: Reality, Imagination
The happiest is he who suffers the least pain; the most miserable, he who enjoys the least pleasure.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Topics: Blessings
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