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What good would it be to possess the whole universe if one were its only survivor?

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau A Lasting Peace Through the Federation of Europe (1756)

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Space

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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Since, in the long run, every planetary society will be endangered by impacts from space, every surviving civilization is obliged to become spacefaring — not because of exploratory or romantic zeal, but for the most practical reason imaginable: staying alive.

Carl Sagan Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space (1994)

The stars awaken a certain reverence, because though always present, they are inaccessible; but all natural objects make a kindred impression, when the mind is open to their influence. Nature never wears a mean appearance.

Ralph Waldo Emerson Nature (1836)

Her blue eyes sought the west afar,
For lovers love the western star.

Walter Scott The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805)

Einstein's space is no closer to reality than Van Gogh's sky.

Arthur Koestler The Act of Creation (1964)

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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.