The world of reality has its limits the world of imagination is boundless.
In all the ills that befall us, we are more concerned by the intention than the result. A tile that falls off a roof may injure us more seriously, but it will not wound us so deeply as a stone thrown...
Laws are always useful to those who possess and vexatious to those who have nothing.
Although modesty is natural to man, it is not natural to children. Modesty only begins with the knowledge of evil.
Man was born free and everywhere he is in shackles.
There is not a single ill-doer who could not be turned to some good.
The first person who, having enclosed a plot of land, took it into his head to say this is mine and found people simple enough to believe him was the true founder of civil society. What crimes, wars,...
If the life and death of Socrates were those of a sage the life and death of Jesus were those of a God.
[T]he man who meditates is a depraved animal.
Liberty is like those solid and tasty foods or those full-bodied wines which are appropriate for nourishing and strengthening robust constitutions that are used to them, but which overpower, ruin and...
I prefer liberty with danger than peace with slavery.
I hate books they only teach us to talk about things we know nothing about.
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.
Among the many short cuts to science, we badly need someone to teach us the art of learning with difficulty.
However great a man's natural talent may be, the act of writing cannot be learned all at once.
We cannot teach children the danger of lying to men without feeling as men, the greater danger of lying to children.
Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.
We are born weak, we need strength helpless, we need aid foolish, we need reason. All that we lack at birth, all that we need when we come to man's estate, is the gift of education.
The first man who, having fenced in a piece of land, said This is mine, and found people naïve enough to believe him, that man was the true founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars, and mu...
Liberty may be gained, but can never be recovered. (Bk2:8)