Jean-Jacques Rousseau Quotes

Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it. And what is this liberty which must lie in the hearts of men and women?

Freedom of the Spirit is the cornerstone of all freedom.

The guarantees of civil liberty are but guarantees of freedom of the human mind and spirit and of reasonable freedom and opportunity to express them...The very essence of the liberty which they guarantee is the freedom of the individual from compulsion as to what he shall think and what he shall say...

Every man is by … natural right, the master of his own thoughts

I believe everybody got the right to live their own life the way they want to.

This I must fight against: any idea, religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual.

While we are contending for our own liberty, we should be very cautious not to violate the conscience of others, ever considering that God alone is the judge of the hearts of men, and to Him only in this case are they answerable.

There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please.

Interior liberty is universal.

We’re not so free that we don’t have to listen to rules, and laws, and regulations. Those are important. But the spirit, the freedom of the spirit, that’s what I think of American Dream, that we are free here to do what we want to do, what we set out to do.

The freedom of Mankind does not lie in the fact that can do what we want, but that we do not have to do that which we do not want.

I let everyone follow his own bent, that I may be free to follow mine.

Life without Liberty is like a body without spirit. Liberty without thought is like a disturbed spirit.

No government on earth can make men, who have realized freedom in their hearts, salute against their will.

There is only one basic human right: the right to do as you please, without causing others harm. With it comes our only basic human duty: the duty to accept the consequences of our actions.

Just as man must have liberty to think and speak, so he must have liberty in food, dress, and marriage, and in every other thing, so long as he does not injure others.

Without private thoughts and actions, we can never truly be free.

I believe, basically, that individual freedom is very important.

What then is freedom? The power to live as one wishes.

Since no one but you can know what's best for you, government control can't make your life better.

A man is born free.

Our whole constitutional heritage rebels at the thought of giving government the power to control men's minds.

If we wish to preserve a free society, it is essential that we recognize that the desirability of a particular object is not sufficient justification for the use of coercion.

Religion has the right to express its opinion in the service of the people, but God in creation has set us free: it is not possible to interfere spiritually in the life of a person.

What libertarians assert is simply that differences among normal adults do not imply different fundamental rights.