Usurpers always bring about or select troublous times to get passed, under cover of the public terror, destructive laws, which the people would never adopt in cold blood. The moment chosen is one of the surest means of distinguishing the work of the legislator from that of the tyrant.
Jean-Jacques RousseauIt is in man's heart that the life of nature's spectacle exists; to see it, one must feel it.
Jean-Jacques RousseauIf all were perfect Christians, individuals would do their duty; the people would be obedient to the laws, the magistrates incorrupt, and there would be neither vanity nor luxury in such a state.
Jean-Jacques RousseauWe have to have powder for our wigs; that is why so many poor people have no bread.
Jean-Jacques RousseauThe word โslaveryโ and โrightโ are contradictory, they cancel each other out. Whether as between one man and another, or between one man and a whole people, it would always be absurd to say: "I hereby make a covenant with you which is wholly at your expense and wholly to my advantage; I will respect it so long as I please and you shall respect it as long as I wish.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau