Every man having been born free and master of himself, no one else may under any pretext whatever subject him without his consent. To assert that the son of a slave is born a slave is to assert that he is not born a man.

Nature wants children to be children before men... Childhood has its own seeing, thinking and feeling.

It is in man's heart that the life of nature's spectacle exists; to see it, one must feel it.

With children use force; with men reason; such is the natural order of things. The wise man requires no law.

The social compact sets up among the citizens as equality of such kind, that they all bind themselves to observe the same conditions and should therefore all enjoy the same rights.

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.

It is not our criminal actions that require courage to confess, but those which are ridiculous and foolish.