Below are some of the famous Jean-Jacques Rousseau Quotes.
Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains.
Man is born free without any restrictions. But already established societal norms limits a man's action. These societal norms can be misperceived by the people of society and lead to curbing of a person's liberty. The pressure of following rules made by others for your life is challenging to abide by.
What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?
Any wisdom or knowledge in the world is of no use when it cannot help the people around us. Helping the less privileged is a moral responsibility. Spreading happiness and kindness will lead to a positive environment and even leave you with a satisfying feeling lingering in you.
No man has any natural authority over his fellow men.
Being authoritative over your colleagues only shows your superiority complex and insecurities. If they are equal, they should be treated as and spoken to as equals and not inferiors.
Insults are the arguments employed by those who are in the wrong.
The weaker competitor hurls insults in an attempt to suppress their opponent's voice when they don't have a valid point. When people know they are wrong and don't have any convincing power left to convert their wrong into right, they start discrediting or insulting the other competitor instead of accepting their mistake.
The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless.
Our imagination knows no bounds. They help us think of the numerous possibilities of a situation that the real world might not allow us to execute. An imaginative world helps us to live a simulated reality.
Nature never deceives us; it is we who deceive ourselves.
Man tends to only look for short time luxuries. We have destroyed ecosystems just for our leisure without considering its after effect. So if nature retaliates, it's not their fault. We have dug this hole ourselves. Man has become its own enemy and still continues to destroy nature without regard for the future.
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Every man has a right to risk his own life for the preservation of it.
For our survival, we often need to make crucial decisions. These decisions might even lead to putting ourselves at risk. But being able to take that decision should be in our hands only. No one else should be allowed to take decisions for us.
It is too difficult to think nobly when one thinks only of earning a living.
It is difficult to live a moralistic life when you are just trying to survive. Being moralistic is a privilege only a few can have. When you are trying to survive and earn a living, these morals don't fill your stomachs. You have to do everything in order to get through with life.
The strongest is never strong enough to be always the master, unless he transforms strength into right, and obedience into duty.
Strength is not the only factor that is required to become an expert. You also have to be right in your stand and persevere your way towards excellence. You won't win even if you are the most powerful, but the other person is right in their stand.
People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little.
Empty vessels make the most noise. People who have actual knowledge have a habit of believing in "Action speaks louder than words". This habit leads them to show people their intelligence rather than blabbering on and boasting about it.
Virtue is a state of war, and to live in it means one always has some battle to wage against oneself.
Being righteous will always lead you to decide on certain things, make spontaneous decisions, and take a stand instead of compromising your morals. It takes a lot to have morals and to abide by them. Not changing your values even for your convenience is the most difficult. To go out of your way to stand for what you believe is a lot of hard work.
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I prefer liberty with danger than peace with slavery.
It is better to have your freedom at the cost of some dangers than to have peace but no liberty at all. To stand up for our rights, to fight the oppressor requires courage and can attract all sorts of dangers. Being a twitch in our oppressor's eyes can prove fatal to us. But to not stand up, to not fight for what we rightfully deserve just for the sake of our safety, is just ironic because, without rights, no one is safe. Ultimately people will exploit you to the extent of slavery just under the pretext of first offering you peace and safety.
I hate books; they only teach us to talk about things we know nothing about.
Books tend to give us a lot of knowledge. But the only drawback is that it only shares the author's point of view. Hence we tend to believe that it is the only side of the story since we know nothing about it.
Trust your heart rather than your head.
Often while taking decisions, our brain and heart don't agree with each other. This arises a difficulty in our decision-making process. Our brain provides a logical argument, whereas the heart has an emotional intake. In situations like these, we must trust our hearts to take a final call and go with our instinct.
We must powder our wigs; that is why so many poor people have no bread.
Just because the rich have so many silly tantrums, the poor don't have enough food to eat. Their hoarding of resources and unnecessary desires and cravings have to lead to a poor being deprived of basic resources.
Nothing on this earth is worth buying at the price of human blood.
A lot of times, wars are fought around the world to achieve a lot of things. Be it food items, weaponry, technologies or even pride but are all these things worth fighting for, worth shedding human blood, worth taking lives, or even worth destroying families and making them go through hell. Clearly, no amount of requirement is worth taking away even a single life.
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Every artists wants to be applauded.
Appreciation is something that everyone craves, especially an artist. Feeling appreciated lifts people up, makes them feel secured. The energy drained by an artist in order to perform his/her art is boosted immediately just by applause. Even though seeking validation always is not healthy, hoping for a little appreciation does not harm anyone.
I may be no better, but at least I am different.
Being unique is very important, or else you don't have an individual value. And you will always be considered a part of the group you are with, having no importance for yourself.
It is fine if you are not better than everyone else as long as you can offer something no one else can.
When the people shall have nothing more to eat, they will eat the rich.
The rich often hoard money by illegal means leading to the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. This lead to an increase in the economic gap. When this gap extends to a level where the poor have nothing left to eat, it is then that they start to revolt and hold the rich accountable for their actions and their direct result. When the poor cross their tipping point, then they will stand up for their rights.
The desire to be better understood has been extinguished from my heart.
Very often, we are misunderstood to such an extent that we lose every hope to ever give an explanation. Similarly, Rousseau also has been misunderstood and has lost all hope of some getting his point of view or making his voice heard.
