“ It is no easy matter to reduce to obedience a man who has no ambition to command; nor would the most adroit politician find it possible to enslave a people whose only desire was to be independent. ”
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality Among Men (1755). copy citation
| Author | Jean-Jacques Rousseau |
|---|---|
| Source | Discourse on the Origin of Inequality Among Men |
| Topic | obedience ambition |
| Date | 1755 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | Translated by G. D. H. Cole |
| Weblink | https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Discourse_on_the_Origin_of_Inequality_Amo... |
Context
“Besides, individuals only allow themselves to be oppressed so far as they are hurried on by blind ambition, and, looking rather below than above them, come to love authority more than independence, and submit to slavery, that they may in turn enslave others. It is no easy matter to reduce to obedience a man who has no ambition to command; nor would the most adroit politician find it possible to enslave a people whose only desire was to be independent. But inequality easily makes its way among cowardly and ambitious minds, which are ever ready to run the risks of fortune, and almost indifferent whether they command or obey, as it is favourable or adverse.”
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