Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Reading, solitude, idleness, a soft and sedentary life, intercourse with women and young people, these are perilous paths for a young man, and these lead him constantly into danger.

Every man has a right to risk his own life for the preservation of it.

It is too difficult to think nobly when one thinks only of earning a living.

We are born, so to speak, twice over; born into existence, and born into life; born a human being, and born a man.

No man has any natural authority over his fellow men.

The first step towards vice is to shroud innocent actions in mystery, and whoever likes to conceal something sooner or later has reason to conceal it.

It is unnatural for a majority to rule, for a majority can seldom be organized and united for specific action, and a minority can.

Take the course opposite to custom and you will almost always do well.

All of my misfortunes come from having thought too well of my fellows.

Our affections as well as our bodies are in perpetual flux.

O love, if I regret the age when one savors you, it is not for the hour of pleasure, but for the one that follows it.

Take from the philosopher the pleasure of being heard and his desire for knowledge ceases.