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If I am bound to do no injury to my fellow-creatures, this is less because they are rational than because they are sentient beings: and this quality, being common both to men and beasts, ought to entitle the latter at least to the privilege of not being wantonly ill-treated by the former.

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau Discourse on Inequality (1754)

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More quotes by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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

Virtue is a state of war, and to live in it means one always has some battle to wage against oneself.

Every blue-stocking will remain a spinster as long as there are sensible men on the earth.

Money is the source of all the false ideas of society.

A blue-stocking is the scourge of her husband, children, friends, servants, and every one.

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Jean-Jacques Rousseau (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.