To write a good love letter you ought to begin without knowing what you mean to say and to finish without knowing what you have written.

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Truth is an homage that the good man pays to his own dignity.

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Virtue is a state of war, and to live in it, we have always to combat with ourselves.

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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.

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau

We cannot teach children the danger of lying to men without feeling as men, the greater danger of lying to children.

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau

We seek knowledge only because we desire enjoyment, and it is impossible to conceive why a person who has neither desires nor fears would take the trouble to reason.

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau

What, then, is the government? An intermediary body established between the subjects and the sovereign for their mutual communication, a body charged with the execution of the laws and the maintenance of freedom, both civil and political.

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau

What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau

When I stay in one Place, I can hardly think at all; my body had to be on the move to set my mind going." Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Whether the woman shares the man's passion or not, whether she is willing or unwilling to satisfy it, she always repulses him and defends herself, though not always with the same vigor, and therefore not always with the same success.

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau