Thus in the task of legislation we find together two things which appear to be incompatible: an enterprise… — Jean Jacques Rousseau
Thus in the task of legislation we find together two things which appear to be incompatible: an enterprise too difficult for human powers, and, for its execution, an authority that is no authority. There is a further difficulty that deserves attention. Wise men, if they try to speak their language to the common herd instead of its own, cannot possibly make themselves understood. There are a thousand kinds of ideas which it is impossible to translate into popular language.
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Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains. One thinks himself the master of others, and still remains a greater slave than they.
The body politic, like the human body, begins to die from its birth, and bears in itself the causes of its destruction.
At Genoa, the word Liberty may be read over the front of the prisons and on the chains of the galley-slaves. This application of the device is good and just. It is indeed only malefactors of all estates who prevent the citizen from being free. In the country in which all such men were in the galleys, the most perfect liberty would be enjoyed.
