The features come insensibly to be formed and assume their shape from the frequent and habitual expression of certain affections of the soul. These affections are marked on the countenance; nothing is more certain than this; and when they turn into habits, they must leave on it durable impressions.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Topics: Wisdom, People, Greatness
Do to others as you would have others do to you, inspires all men with that other maxim of natural goodness a great deal less perfect, but perhaps more useful: Do good to yourself with as little prejudice as you can to others.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Topics: Doing
Base souls have no faith in great individuals.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Topics: Faith
Our greatest evils flow from ourselves.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Topics: Evil
That which renders life burdensome to us, generally arises from the abuse of it.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
It is not the criminal things that are hardest to confess, but the ridiculous and the shameful.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Topics: Honesty
The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless. — Not being able to enlarge the one, let us contract the other; for it is from their difference that all the evils arise which render us unhappy.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Topics: Reality, Imagination
The tone of good conversation is brilliant and natural. — It is neither tedious nor frivolous. — It is instructive without pedantry; gay, without tumultuousness; polished, without affectation; gallant, without insipidity; waggish, without equivocation.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Topics: Conversation
Endurance and to be able to endure is the first lesson a child should learn because it’s the one they will most need to know.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Topics: Endurance
Every person has a right to risk their own life for the preservation of it.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Yes, if the life and death of Socrates are those of a wise man, the life and death of Jesus are those of a god.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Take from the philosopher the pleasure of being heard and his desire for knowledge ceases.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Topics: Philosophy, Science
The mind grows narrow in proportion as the soul grows corrupt.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Nature never deceives us; it is we who deceive ourselves.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Topics: Nature, Truth
Cities are the abyss of the human species.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
A person who knows little likes to talk, and one who knows much mostly keeps silent. This is because a person who knows little thinks that everything he knows is important, and wants to tell everyone. A person who knows much also knows that there is much more he doesn’t know. That’s why he speaks only when it is necessary to speak, and when he is not asked questions, he keeps his silence.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Topics: Patience
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.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
The happiest is he who suffers the least pain; the most miserable, he who enjoys the least pleasure.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Topics: Blessings
The thirst after happiness is never extinguished in the heart of a man.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Topics: Goals, Happiness
Happiness: A good bank account, a good cook, and a good digestion.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau
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