Ought to have a universal compulsory force to move and arrange each part in the manner best suited to the whole. Just as nature gives each man an absolute power over all his members, the social compact gives the body politic an absolute power over all its members." "We grant that each person alienates, by the social compact, only that portion of his power, his goods, and liberty whose use is of consequence to the community; but we must also grant that only the sovereign is the judge of what is of consequence.
Jean-Jacques RousseauI have never believed that man's freedom consisted in doing what he wants, but rather in never doing what he does not want to do.
Jean-Jacques RousseauThe body politic, as well as the human body, begins to die as soon as it is born, and carries itself the causes of its destruction.
Jean-Jacques RousseauTo renounce liberty is to renounce being a man, to surrender the rights of humanity and even its duties. For he who renounces everything no indemnity is possible. Such a renunciation is incompatible with man's nature; to remove all liberty from his will is to remove all morality from his acts.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau