Jean-Jacques Rousseau Thinking Quotations

The English think they are free. They are free only during the election of members of parliament.

I think we cannot too strongly attack superstition, which is the disturber of society; nor too highly respect genuine religion, which is the support of it.

Never did I think so much, exist so much, be myself so much as in the journeys I have made alone and on foot. Walking has something about it which animates and enlivens my ideas. I can hardly think while I am still; my body must be in motion to move my mind.

[When anything happens, we interpret it as good or bad, but...] We do not know what is really good or bad fortune. [Only the future can decide. For example, what appears to be bad today may in fact lead us to a greater good tomorrow and by the very act of thinking and planning in that positive way, we can help make that good future come true.]

Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains. Those who think themselves the masters of others are indeed greater slaves than they.

A child who passes through many hands in turn, can never be well brought up. At every change he makes a secret comparison, which continually tends to lessen his respect for those who control him, and with it their authority over him. If once he thinks there are grown-up people with no more sense than children the authority of age is destroyed and his education is ruined.

I can only meditate when I am walking. When I stop, I cease to think; my mind works only with my legs.

An honest man nearly always thinks justly.

One thinks himself the master of others, and still remains a greater slave than they.

I think it impossible that the great monarchies of Europe can last much longer.

Childhood has it's own way of seeing, thinking, and feeling, and nothing is more foolish than to try to substitute ours for theirs.

He thinks like a philosopher, but governs like a king.