Discourse on the Sciences and Arts and Polemics Quotes

“They say that Caliph Omar, when consulted about what had to be done with the library of Alexandria, answered as follows: 'If the books of this library contain matters opposed to the Koran, they are bad and must be burned. If they contain only the doctrine of the Koran, burn them anyway, for they are superfluous.' Our learned men have cited this reasoning as the height of absurdity. However, suppose Gregory the Great was there instead of Omar and the Gospel instead of the Koran. The library would still have been burned, and that might well have been the finest moment in the life of this illustrious pontiff.”
― Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Sciences and Arts and Polemics

“لقد ولد الإنسان ليعمل لا ليفكر..
إن التفكير لا يجعل منه إلا إنسانا تعيسا ولا يجعله أفضل او أعقل.
إن التفكير يجعله يندم على الأشياء التي أضاعها و يحرمه من التمتع بحاضره.
و التفكير يزين له المستقبل التعيس ليجعله يحس بذلك قبل وقوعه..
إن الدراسة تفسد أخلاقه و تمرض صحته و تحطم مزاجه و تميع حجته..
و إذا ما كانت تعلمه شيئا ما فإني أجد أنها تضر به أكثر مما تعلمه”
― Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Sciences and Arts and Polemics

“It is a great and beautiful spectacle to see a man somehow emerging from oblivion by his own efforts, dispelling with the light of his reason the shadows in which nature had enveloped him, rising above himself, soaring in his mind right up to the celestial regions, moving, like the sun, with giant strides through the vast extent of the universe, and, what is even greater and more difficult, returning to himself in order to study man there and learn of his nature, his obligations, and his end.”
― Jean Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Sciences and Arts and Polemics

“Those whom nature destined to make her disciples have no need of teachers.Bacon,Descartes,Newton— these tutors of the human race had no need of tutors themselves, and what guides could have led them to those places where their vast genius carried them? Ordinary teachers could only have limited their understanding by confining it to their own narrow capabilities. With the first obstacles, they learned to exert themselves and made the effort to traverse the immense space they moved through. If it is necessary to permit some men to devote themselves to the study of the sciences and the arts, that should be only for those who feel in themselves the power to walk alone in those men's footsteps and to move beyond them. It is the task of this small number of people to raise monuments to the glory of the human mind.”
― Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Sciences and Arts and Polemics

“Europe had fallen back into the barbarity of the first ages. People from this part of world, so enlightened today, lived a few centuries ago in a state worse than ignorance. Some sort of learned jargon much more despicable than ignorance had usurped the name of knowledge and set up an almost invincible obstacle in the way of its return. A revolution was necessary to bring men back to common sense, and it finally came from a quarter where one would least expect it. It was the stupid Muslim, the eternal blight on learning, who brought about its rebirth among us.”
― Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Sciences and Arts and Polemics

“Are your principles not engraved in all hearts, and in order to learn your laws is it not enough to go back into oneself and listen to the voice of one's conscience in the silence of the passions? There you have true philosophy. Let us learn to be satisfied with that, and without envying the glory of those famous men who are immortalized in the republic of letters, let us try to set between them and us that glorious distinction which people made long ago between two great peoples: one knew how to speak well; the other how to act well.”
― Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Sciences and Arts and Polemics

“To this motive which encourages me is added another which made up my mind: after I have upheld, according to my natural intelligence, the side of truth, no matter what success I have, there is a prize which I cannot fail to win. I will find it in the depths of my heart.”
― Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Sciences and Arts and Polemics

“Princes always are always happy to see developing among their subjects the taste for agreeable arts and for superfluities which do not result in the export of money. For quite apart from the fact that with these they nourish that spiritual pettiness so appropriate for servitude, they know very well that all the needs which people give themselves are so many chains binding them. When Alexander wished to keep the Ichthyophagi dependent on him, he forced them to abandon fishing and to nourish themselves on foods common to other people. And no one has been able to subjugate the savages in America, who go around quite naked and live only from what their hunting provides. In fact, what yoke could be imposed on men who have no need of anything?”
― Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Sciences and Arts and Polemics

“O Fabricius! What would your great soul have thought, if to your own misfortune you had been called back to life and had seen the pompous face of this Rome saved by your efforts and which your honourable name had distinguished more than all its conquests? 'Gods,' you would have said, 'what has happened to those thatched roofs and those rustic dwelling places where, back then, moderation and virtue lived? What fatal splendour has succeeded Roman simplicity? What is this strange language? What are these effeminate customs? What do these statues signify, these paintings, these buildings? You mad people, what have you done? You, masters of nations, have you turned yourself into the slaves of the frivolous men you conquered? Are you now governed by rhetoricians? Was it to enrich architects, painters, sculptors, and comic actors that you soaked Greece and Asia with your blood? Are the spoils of Carthage trophies for a flute player? Romans, hurry up and tear down these amphitheatres, break up these marbles, burn these paintings, chase out these slaves who are subjugating you, whose fatal arts are corrupting you. Let other hands distinguish themselves with vain talents. The only talent worthy of Rome is that of conquering the world and making virtue reign there. When Cineas took our Senate for an assembly of kings, he was not dazzled by vain pomp or by affected elegance. He did not hear there this frivolous eloquence, the study and charm of futile men. What then did Cineas see that was so majestic? O citizens! He saw a spectacle which your riches or your arts could never produce, the most beautiful sight which has ever appeared under heaven, an assembly of two hundred virtuous men, worthy of commanding in Rome and governing the earth.”
― Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Sciences and Arts and Polemics

“No sé muy bien qué clase de jerga científica, más despreciable aún que la ignorancia, había usurpado el nombre a la sabiduría y para impedir su vuelta le ponía obstáculos casi insalvables. Se”
― Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discurso sobre las ciencias y las artes

“Las galas no tienen nada que ver con la virtud, que es la fuerza y el vigor del alma. El hombre de bien es un atleta que se complace en combatir desnudo: desprecia todos los viles ornatos que estorbarían la utilización de sus fuerzas y que no han sido inventados en su mayoría sino para esconder alguna deformidad.”
― Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discurso sobre las ciencias y las artes

“De manera que, poniéndome en el lugar del oráculo y preguntándome qué es lo que preferiría ser, lo que soy yo o lo que son ellos, saber lo que ellos han aprendido o saber que no sé nada, me he respondido a mí mismo y al Dios: Quiero seguir siendo lo que soy.”
― Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discurso sobre las ciencias y las artes

“aunque estas personas no sepan nada, todas creen saber algo. Mientras que yo, si no sé nada, al menos no tengo esa duda. De”
― Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discurso sobre las ciencias y las artes

“De manera que toda esta superioridad de sabiduría que me otorga el oráculo se reduce únicamente a estar convencido completamente de que ignoro todo lo que no sé.”
― Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discurso sobre las ciencias y las artes

“He aquí cómo el lujo, la disolución y la esclavitud han sido en todo tiempo el castigo a los esfuerzos orgullosos que hemos hecho para salir de la feliz ignorancia donde nos había situado la sabiduría eterna. El”
― Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discurso sobre las ciencias y las artes

“Los hombres son perversos; serían peores aún si hubieran tenido la desgracia de nacer sabiendo.”
― Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discurso sobre las ciencias y las artes

“Los antiguos políticos hablaban continuamente de buenas costumbres y de virtud; los nuestros no hablan sino de comercio y de dinero. Uno”
― Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discurso sobre las ciencias y las artes

“Fakat aramızda şu ayrım var ki bu adamlar bir şey bilmedikleri halde her şeyi bildiklerini sanıyorlar; bense bir şey bilmemekle beraber hiç olmazsa bilmediğimden şüphe etmiyorum.”
― Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Sciences and Arts and Polemics

“Cuando los hombres inocentes y virtuosos gustaban de tener a los dioses por testigos de sus actos, vivían juntos en las mismas cabañas; pero en seguida se volvieron malvados, se hastiaron de esos incómodos espectadores y los relegaron dentro de templos magníficos. Finalmente los expulsaron de ellos para establecerse ellos mismos; o, al menos, los templos de los dioses no se distinguieron ya de las casas de los ciudadanos. Fue”
― Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discurso sobre las ciencias y las artes

“Sé que hay que ocupar a los niños en algo y que la ociosidad es para ellos el peligro más temible. ¿”
― Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discurso sobre las ciencias y las artes

“ni acerca de un libro si es útil, sino si está bien escrito. Las”
― Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discurso sobre las ciencias y las artes

“Si hay que permitir a ciertos hombres el librarse al estudio de las ciencias y de las artes, es a aquellos que tengan fuerzas para andar solos en su busca y para adelantarlas. A”
― Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discurso sobre las ciencias y las artes

“Mientras el gobierno y las leyes subvienen a la seguridad y al bienestar de los hombres sociales, las letras y las artes, menos déspotas y quizá más poderosas, extienden guirnaldas de flores sobre las cadenas de hierro que los agobian, ahogan en ellos el sentimiento de la libertad original para la cual parecían haber nacido, los hacen amar su esclavitud y los transforman en lo que se ha dado en llamar pueblos civilizados. La necesidad”
― Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discurso sobre las ciencias y las artes

“Nadie se atreve ya a parecer lo que es; y en esta coacción perpetua, los hombres que conforman el rebaño llamado sociedad, situados en las mismas circunstancias, harán todos lo mismo si no se lo impiden motivos de fuerza mayor. Por lo tanto, nunca sabremos muy bien con quién nos enfrentamos; para conocer a un amigo será necesario esperar las grandes ocasiones, es decir, esperar el momento en que ya sea tarde, puesto que para esas mismas ocasiones habría sido esencial conocerlo.”
― Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discurso sobre las ciencias y las artes

“He examinado -dice- a los poetas y los miro como personas cuyo talento impone a las demás y a ellas mismas, que se las dan de sabias, a las que se tiene por tales, cuando tienen menos de eso que de ninguna otra cosa. De los poetas -continúa Sócrates- he”
― Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discurso sobre las ciencias y las artes