Jean-Jacques Rousseau

“ It has cost us something to make ourselves so miserable. When on the one hand we consider the immense Labours of Mankind, so many Sciences brought to Perfection, so many Arts invented, so many Powers employed, so many Abysses filled up, so many Mountains levelled, so many Rocks rent to Pieces, so many Rivers made navigable, so many Tracts of Land cleared, Lakes emptied, Marshes drained, enormous Buildings raised upon the Earth, and the Sea covered with Ships and Sailors ”

“ Is there a single Man among you, who can point out, in the whole Universe, a more upright, a more wise and knowing, a more respectable Body of Men, than that of your own Magistrates. Do not all its Members give you the most perfect Example of Moderation, of Simplicity of Manners, of Respect for the Laws, and of the sincerest Reconciliation? Why therefore will you not place, for your own sakes, in such wise Superiors that unreserved Confidence, which Virtue has a Right to expect from Reason? ”

“ Allowing that Nature intended we should always enjoy good Health, I dare almost affirm that a State of Reflection is a State against Nature, and that the Man who meditates is a depraved Animal. We need only call to mind the good Constitution of Savages, of those at least whom we have not destroyed by our strong Liquors; we need only reflect, that they are Strangers to almost every Disease, except those occasioned by Wounds and old Age, to be in a manner convinced that the History of human Diseases might be easily composed by pursuing that of civil Societies. ”

“ The Inequality between the People and the Chiefs increases so fast as to be soon felt by the private Members, and appears among them in a thousand Shapes according to their Passions, their Talents, and the Circumstances of Affairs. The Magistrate cannot usurp any illegal Power without making himself Creatures, with whom he must divide it. Besides, the Citizens of a free State suffer themselves to be oppressed merely in proportion as hurried on by a blind Ambition, and looking rather below than above them, they come to love Authority more than Independence. ”

“ Having had the Happiness of drawing my first Breath among you, how was it possible I should meditate on the Equality Nature has established among Men, and on the Inequality they themselves have introduced, without thinking on the profound Wisdom, with which both one and the other, happily combined together in this State, have been made to concur, in a Manner that deviates least from the Laws of Nature and yet answers best the Ends of Society, to the Maintenance of public Order and the Security of private Happiness? ”

“ Honour, Friendship, Virtue, and often Vice itself, which we at last learn the secret to boast of; how, in short, ever inquiring of others what we are, and never daring to question ourselves on so delicate a Point, in the midst of so much Philosophy Humanity and Politeness, and so many sublime Maxims, we have nothing to shew for ourselves but a deceitful and frivolous Exterior, Honour without Virtue, Reason without Wisdom, and Pleasure without Happiness. ”

“ Is there any one among you so inattentive as not to see, that, when Laws once lose their Vigour, and the Defenders of them their Authority, there can be neither Safety nor Liberty for any Man? What therefore is required of you but to do chearfully and without Diffidence, what your Interest, your Duty, and sound Reason should oblige you to do? Let not a blameable and dangerous Indifference for the Support of the Constitution ever make you neglect, at any time you may stand in need of it, the prudent Advice of your most knowing and zealous Fellow Citizens ”

“ We ought not to think it strange that the Heads of a civil Society should have at heart its Glory and Welfare: but it is an uncommon Happiness that those, who look upon themselves as the Magistrates, or rather as the Masters, of a more holy and more sublime Country, should express some Affection for the earthly Country that maintains them. How pleasing it is to be able to make in our favour so singular an Exception! ”

“ The Imagination, which causes so many Ravages among us, never speaks to the Heart of Savages, who peaceably wait for the Impulses of Nature, yield to these Impulses without Choice and with more Pleasure than Fury; and whose Desires never outlive their Necessity for the thing desired.
Nothing therefore can be more evident, than that it is Society alone, which has added even to Love itself as well as to all the other Passions, that impetuous Ardour, which so often renders it fatal to Mankind ”

“ A sublime Art which, tho' so remote from its Origin, Philosophers still behold at such a prodigious Distance from its Perfection, that I never met with one of them bold enough to affirm it would ever arrive there, tho' the Revolutions necessarily produced by Time were suspended in its Favour; tho' Prejudice could be banished from, or would at least consent to sit silent in the Presence of our Academies; and tho' these Societies should consecrate themselves, entirely and during whole Ages, to the Study of this intricate Object. ”

“ I am overjoyed to hear, with what Affability and Condescension you temper, in all your Transactions with them, that Gravity becoming the Ministers of the Laws; how well you repay them, by your Esteem and your Attention to their Welfare, the Respect and Obedience they yield to you; a Conduct this full of Justice and Wisdom, and fit to obliterate more and more the Memory of those unfortunate Events, which ought to be buried in eternal Silence and Oblivion! a Conduct the more judicious, as this equitable and generous People make a Pleasure of their Duty; are naturally fond of honouring you ”

“ As an unbroken Courser erects his Main, paws the Ground, and rages at the bare Sight of the Bit, while a trained Horse patiently suffers both Whip and Spur, just so the Barbarian will never reach his Neck to the Yoke which civilized Man carries without murmuring, but prefers the most stormy Liberty to a calm Subjection. It is not therefore by the servile Disposition of enslaved Nations that we must judge of the natural Dispositions of Man for or against Slavery, but by the Prodigies done by every free People to secure themselves from Oppression. ”

“ From the vast Inequality of Conditions and Fortunes, from the great Variety of Passions and of Talents, of useless Arts, of pernicious Arts, of frivolous Sciences, would issue Clouds of Prejudices equally contrary to Reason, to Happiness, to Virtue. We should see the Chiefs foment every thing that tends to weaken Men formed into Societies by dividing them; every thing that, while it gives Society an Air of apparent Harmony, sows in it the Seeds of real Division ”

“ But I am amazed that in an Age, in which Men so much affect useful and polite Learning, there does not start up two Men perfectly united, and rich, one in Money, the other in Genius, both Lovers of Glory, and studious of Immortality, one of whom should be willing to sacrifice twenty thousand Crowns of his Fortune, and the other ten Years of his Life to make such a serious Voyage round the World, as would recommend their Names to the present and future Generations ”

“ O you, by whom the Voice of Heaven has not been heard, and who allow your Species no other Lot but that of finishing in Peace this short Life; you, who can lay down in the midst of Cities your fatal Acquisitions, your turbulent Spirits, your corrupted Hearts and boundless Desires, take up again, since it is in your Power, your ancient and primitive Innocence; retire to the Woods, there to lose the Sight and Remembrance of the Crimes committed by your Cotemporaries ”

“ We may easily conceive how the Establishment of a single Society rendered that of all the rest absolutely necessary, and how, to make head against united Forces, it became necessary for the rest of Mankind to unite in their turn. Societies once formed in this Manner, soon multiplied or spread to such a Degree, as to cover the Face of the Earth; and not to leave a Corner in the whole Universe, where a Man could throw off the Yoke, and withdraw his Head from under the often ill-conducted Sword which he saw perpetually hanging over it. ”

“ It is by the Activity of our Passions, that our Reason improves; we covet Knowledge merely because we covet Enjoyment, and it is impossible to conceive, why a Man exempt from Fears and Desires should take the Trouble to reason. The Passions, in their turn, owe their Origin to our Wants, and their Increase to our Progress in Science; for we cannot desire or fear any Thing, but in consequence of the Ideas we have of it, or of the simple Impulses of Nature; and Savage Man, destitute of every Species of Knowledge, experiences no Passions but those of this last Kind ”

“ I can discover nothing in any mere Animal but an ingenious Machine, to which Nature has given Senses to wind itself up, and guard, to a certain Degree, against every thing that might destroy or disorder it. I perceive the very same things in the Human Machine, with this Difference, that Nature alone operates in all the Operations of the Beast, whereas Man, as a free Agent, has a Share in his. ”

“ Can I here forget that precious half of the Republic which constitutes the Happiness of the other half, and whose Mildness and prudent Behaviour contribute so much to secure to it the Blessings of Peace and good Manners. Amiable and virtuous Sister-Citizens, it will ever be the fate of your Sex to govern ours. Happy! as long as your chaste Power, confined to the Bounds of conjugal Union, shall confine itself to the Glory and the Happiness of your Country! It is thus the Women commanded at Sparta, and that you deserve to command at Geneva. ”

“ I shall not stop to consider, if, Liberty being the most noble Faculty of Man, it is not degrading one's Nature, reducing one's self to the level of Brutes, who are the Slaves of Instinct, and even offending the Author of one's Being, to renounce without reserve the most precious of his Gifts, and submit to the commission of all the Crimes he has forbid us, merely to gratify a mad or a cruel Master ”

“ Now, if we compare the prodigious Variety in the Education and Manner of living of the different Orders of Men in a civil State, with the Simplicity and Uniformity that prevails in the animal and savage Life, where all the Individuals make use of the same Aliments, live in the same Manner, and do exactly the same things, we shall easily conceive how much the Difference between Man and Man in the State of Nature must be less than in the State of Society, and how much every Inequality of Institution must increase the natural Inequalities of the Human Species. ”

“ The Rich on their Side scarce began to taste the Pleasure of commanding, when they preferred it to every other; and making use of their old Slaves to acquire new ones, they no longer thought of any thing but subduing and enslaving their Neighbours; like those ravenous Wolves, who having once tasted human Flesh, despise every other Food, and devour nothing but Men for the future. ”

“ Singing and Dancing, the genuine Offspring of Love and Leisure, become the Amusement or rather the Occupation of the Men and Women, free from Care, thus gathered together. Every one begins to survey the rest, and wishes to be surveyed himself; and public Esteem acquires a Value. He who sings or dances best; the handsomest, the strongest, the most dexterous, the most eloquent, comes to be the most respected: this was the first Step towards Inequality, and at the same time towards Vice. ”

“ I could prove, in short, that if we behold a handful of rich and powerful Men seated on the Pinnacle of Fortune and Greatness, while the Crowd grovel in Obscurity and Want, it is merely because the first prize what they enjoy but in the same Degree that others want it, and that, without changing their Condition, they would cease to be happy the minute the People ceased to be miserable. ”

“ Things once arrived at this Period, it is an easy Matter to imagine the rest. I shall not stop to describe the successive Inventions of other Arts, the Progress of Language, the Tryal and Employment of Talents, the Inequality of Fortunes, the Use or Abuse of Riches, nor all the Details which follow these, and which every one may easily supply. I shall just give a glance at Mankind placed in this new Order of things. ”

“ Your Constitution is excellent and happy, being not only dictated by the profoundest Wisdom, but guaranteed by the most respectable Powers. Your State enjoys the greatest Tranquillity, you have nothing to fear from Wars or Conquerors; you have no Masters but the wise Laws you yourselves have made, administered by upright Magistrates of your own chusing; you are neither rich enough to be enervated by Luxury, and lose in the pursuit of empty Pleasures the taste of genuine Happiness and solid Virtue, nor yet poor enough to require from Strangers any Supplement to the Fruits of your own Industry. ”

“ I could shew how much this universal Desire of Reputation, of Honours, of Preference, with which we are all devoured, exercises and compares our Talents and our Forces; how much it excites and multiplies our Passions; and, by creating an universal Competition, Rivalship, or rather Enmity among Men, how many Disappointments, Successes, and Catastrophes of every Kind it daily causes among the innumerable Pretenders whom it engages in the same Career. ”

“ In examining what were the best Maxims good Sense might prescribe for the Constitution of a perfect Government, I was so struck to find them all complied with in yours, that, tho' I had not been born within your Walls, I should have thought myself indispensably obliged to offer this Picture of human Society to that People, which of all others, in my Opinion, enjoys the greatest Advantages of it, and has best guarded against its smallest Abuses. ”