Whoever refuses to obey the general will will be forced to do so by the entire body; this means merely that he will be forced to be free.

A man speaks of what he knows, a woman of what pleases her: the one requires knowledge, the other taste.

Behold the works of our philosophers; with all their pompous diction, how mean and contemptible they are by comparison with the Scriptures! Is it possible that a book at once so simple and sublime should be merely the work of man?

Consolation indiscreetly pressed upon us, when we are suffering undue affliction, only serves to increase our pain, and to render our grief more poignant.

Truth is an homage that the good man pays to his own dignity.

Generally we obtain very surely and very speedily what we are not too anxious to obtain.

The members of a body-politic call it "the state" when it is passive, "the sovereign" when it is active, and a "power" when they compare it with others of its kind. Collectively they use the title "people," and they refer to one another individually as "citizens" when speaking of their participation in the authority of the sovereign, and as "subjects" when speaking of their subordination to the laws of the state.