Jean-Jacques Rousseau Quotes

Every human heart cries and yearns for the same thing: a chance to fulfill his or her own dreams and desires. Even the poorest man has a dream.

The goal towards which the pleasure principle impels us - of becoming happy - is not attainable: yet we may not - nay, cannot - give up the efforts to come nearer to realization of it by some means or other.

We all have a hungry heart, and one of the things we hunger for is happiness. So as much as I possibly could, I stayed where I was happy.

Luxury is...to be able to take control of one's life, health, and the pursuit of happiness in a way that is joyful.

That is the trouble with happiness-all of it is built on top of something that men want.

All men seek happiness. There are no exceptions.... This is the motive of every act of every man, including those who go and hang themselves.

What unites us as human beings is an urge for happiness which at heart is a yearning for union.

Everybody's got a hungry heart.

Desire is the great equalizer.

I want to live, I want to give, I've been a miner for a heart of gold.

It is a wonderful subduer, this need of love-this hunger of the heart-as peremptory as that other hunger by which Nature forces us to submit to the yoke, and change the face of the world.

. . . there is a wish in the heart of mankind to be distracted and confused. Truth is but one attraction, and not always the most powerful.

All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.

It is a sad thing to want for happiness, but it is a terrible thing to see another groping about blindly for it, when it is almost within the grasp.

Longing performs all things

If a person wants to be of any use to himself, he better insist on getting his fair share of beauty and pleasure, and if there's something about the system that's keeping him from getting his share, then I think he's well within his rights to fight to change that.

While my interest in natural history has added very little to my sum of achievement, it has added immeasurably to my sum of enjoyment in life.

Love what you do, or don't do it. Don't make a choice of any kind, whether in career or in life, just because it pleases others or because it ranks high on someone else's scale of achievement...Make the choice to do something because it engages your heart as well as your mind. Make the choice because it engages all of you.

Must be yearning deep in human heart to stop other people from doing as they please.

It is the pursuit of happiness that brings us happiness, and not the happiness achieved.

Happiness doesn't require laughter, only well-being and a sense that the world is breaking someone else's heart, not mine.

The source of continuing aliveness was to find your passion and pursue it, with whole heart and single mind.

I had always been taught that the pursuit of happiness was my natural (even national) birthright. It is the emotional trademark of my culture to seek happiness. Not just any kind of happiness, either, but profound happiness, even soaring happiness. And what could possibly bring a person more soaring happiness than romantic love.

Tell me what you yearn for and I shall tell you who you are. We are what we reach for, the idealized image that drives our wandering.