Jean-Jacques Rousseau Quotes

It is right that what is just should be obeyed; it is necessary that what is strongest should be obeyed. Justice without might is helpless; might without justice is tyrannical.

As sons obey their father and wives obey their husbands, so should citizens obey their rulers.

Might and right govern everything in this world; might till right is ready.

A right not accompanied by the sword is a lost right.

Even the most despotic government cannot stand except for the consent of the governed.... Immediately the subject ceases to fear the despotic force, his power is gone.

If physical power be the fountain of law, then law and force are synonymous terms. Or, perhaps, rather, law would be the result of a combination of will and force; of will, united with a physical power sufficient to compel obedience to it, but not necessarily having any moral character whatever.

Force in today's world, just as in the past, is what determines rights.

All political questions, all matters of right, are at bottom only questions of might.

Empire can only be achieved with satisfaction, or maintained with advantage, provided it has a moral basis.

The public power of all society is above every soul contained in the same society.

Government is force.

Since all people do not do their duty and some, on the contrary, commit injustices, for the sake of keeping order in society, injustices and all enterprises against this order must be repressed: which was possible only through authority given to some over others, and which made government necessary.

The strongest is never strong enough to always be the master unless he transforms strength into right…

Sovereignty resides originally in the people, and in each individual with regard to himself; and that it is the transferring and uniting the several rights of individuals in the person of the sovereign, that constitutes him such, and really produces sovereignty.

A man with a club is a law-maker.

It is right that what is just should be obeyed. It is necessary that what is strongest should be obeyed.

Having been unable to strengthen justice, we have justified strength.

I bow before the authority of special men because it is imposed upon me by my own reason.

One with the law is a majority.

If an individual is born with the obligation to obey, who is born with the right to command?

You may have the might, but that does not necessarily make you right.

Justice without force is powerless; force without justice is tyrannical.

Justice is the first virtue of those who command, and stops the complaints of those who obey.

Over 5,000 years, states have made surprisingly consistent claims about their duties. They have promised to protect people from threats; promote their welfare; deliver justice and also, perhaps less obviously, uphold truth - originally truths about the cosmos, and more recently truths drawn from reason and knowledge.

Lawless are they that make their wills their law.