WORDS FROM A GREAT MIND

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Philosopher, writer & composer

Born: 28 June 1712
Died: 2 July 1778
Lived in: Geneva, Paris, Montmorency & Ermenonville

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan philosopher, novelist, composer, and political thinker. His writing on freedom, inequality, education, and the social contract helped reshape European thought and influenced both democratic politics and Romanticism.

A LESSER-KNOWN DETAIL

Rousseau also composed music and devised a new system of musical notation. The system failed to replace conventional notation, but his opera Le devin du village became a genuine success.

Words by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

“Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains.”

Jean-Jacques Rousseau ↗

“To renounce liberty is to renounce being a man, to surrender the rights of humanity and even its duties.”

Jean-Jacques Rousseau ↗

“The strongest is never strong enough to be always the master, unless he transforms strength into right, and obedience into duty.”

Jean-Jacques Rousseau ↗