The first man, who, after enclosing a piece of ground, 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. How many crimes, how many wars, how many murders, how many misfortunes and horrors, would that man have saved the human species, who pulling up the stakes or filling up the ditches should have cried to his fellows: Be sure not to listen to this imposter; you are lost, if you forget that the fruits of the earth belong equally to us all, and the earth itself to nobody!

The first man, who, after enclosing a piece of ground, 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. How many crimes, how many wars, how many murders, how many misfortunes and horrors, would that man have saved the human species, who pulling up the stakes or filling up the ditches should have cried to his fellows: Be sure not to listen to this imposter; you are lost, if you forget that the fruits of the earth belong equally to us all, and the earth itself to nobody!

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Save QuoteView Quote
Similar Quotes by 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
Save QuoteView Quote

As the literary fairy tale spread in France to every age group and every social class, it began to serve different functions, depending on the writer's interests. It represented the glory and ideology of the French aristocracy. It provided a symbolic critique, with utopian connotations, of the aristocratic hierarchy, largely within the aristocracy itself and from the female viewpoint. It introduced the norms and values of the bourgeois civilizing process as more reasonable and egalitarian than the feudal code. As a divertissement for the aristocracy and bourgeoisie, the fairy tale diverted the attention of listeners/readers from the serious sociopolitical problems of the times, compensating for the deprivations that the upper classes perceived themselves to be suffering. There was also an element of self-parody, revealing the ridiculous notions in previous fairy tales and representing another aspect of court society to itself; such parodies can be seen in Jacques Cazotte's "A Thousand and One Follies" (1746), Jean-Jacques Rousseau's "The Queen Fantasque" (1758), and Voltaire's "The White Bull" (1774). Finally, fairy tales with clear didactic and moral lessons were approved as reading matter to serve as a subtle, more pleasurable means of initiating children into the class rituals and customs that reinforced the status quo.

Jack D. Zipes, Spells of Enchantment: The Wondrous Fairy Tales of Western Culture
Save QuoteView Quote

Free people, remember this maxim: we may acquire liberty, but it is never recovered if it is once lost.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Save QuoteView Quote

A feeble body weakens the mind.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Save QuoteView Quote

No man has any natural authority over his fellow men.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Save QuoteView Quote

Money is the seed of money, and the first guinea is sometimes more difficult to acquire than the second million.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Save QuoteView Quote

The world of reality has its limits the world of imagination is boundless.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Save QuoteView Quote

Plant and your spouse plants with you weed and you weed alone.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Save QuoteView Quote

Base souls have no faith in great individuals.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Save QuoteView Quote

What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Save QuoteView Quote
Related Topics to jean-jacques-rousseau Quotes