Law Quotes by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

19 Law quotes by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

All Law quotes Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s page

Rousseau’s take on legal structures is inseparable from his social‑contract theory. Nineteen concise reflections illustrate his belief that law should arise from the general will of the people, not imposed from above.

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Good laws lead to the making of better ones; bad ones bring about worse.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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With children use force; with men reason; such is the natural order of things. The wise man requires no law.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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Liberty is obedience to the law which one has laid down for oneself

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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“Man’s first law is to watch over his own preservation; his first care he owes to himself; and as soon as he…

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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No true believer could be intolerant or a persecutor. If I were a magistrate and the law carried the death penalty against…

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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He who pretends to look on death without fear lies. All men are afraid of dying, this is the great law of…

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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In truth, laws are always useful to those with possessions and harmful to those who have nothing; from which it follows that…

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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It is manifestly contrary to the law of nature, however defined, that a handful of people should gorge themselves with superfluities while…

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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What, then, is the government? An intermediary body established between the subjects and the sovereign for their mutual communication, a body charged…

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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If all were perfect Christians, individuals would do their duty; the people would be obedient to the laws, the magistrates incorrupt, and…

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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“How much more reasonable is it to say with the sage Plato, that the perfect happiness of a state consists in the…

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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“I ask: which of the two, civil or natural life, is more likely to become insufferable to those who live it? We…

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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To discover the rules of society that are best suited to nations, there would need to exist a superior intelligence, who could…

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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The members of a body-politic call it "the state" when it is passive, "the sovereign" when it is active, and a "power"…

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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It is to law alone that men owe justice and liberty. It is this salutary organ, of the will of all which…

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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Let it not, therefore, be said that the Sovereign is not subject to the laws of his State; since the contrary is…

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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Usurpers always bring about or select troublous times to get passed, under cover of the public terror, destructive laws, which the people…

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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“Are your principles not engraved in all hearts, and in order to learn your laws is it not enough to go back…

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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What, then, is the government? An intermediary body established between the subjects and the sovereign for their mutual communication, and charged with…

Jean-Jacques Rousseau