"Discourse on the Origin of Inequality" Quotes

The first man who, having fenced in a piece of land, said "This is mine," and found people naïve enough to believe him, that man was the true founder of civil society.

Force made the first slaves, and their cowardice perpetuated the condition.

When the law becomes the instrument of the rich and powerful, the plunder it committed is called a great deed, and the sufferers are blamed for their misfortunes.

The first person who, having enclosed a piece of land, 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.

The rich man is not the one who has a lot but the one who needs little.

The more we try to master nature, the more we are enslaved by it.

The first man who, having enclosed a piece of land, thought of saying 'This is mine,' and found people simple enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil society.

The person who has nothing and who possesses nothing is saved. No one can then be a master, no one despoils anyone else, everyone is equally poor and equally dependent.

The most important of all the differences between men is the difference between the strong and the weak.

The less men think, the more they talk.