← Back to quotes

The strongest is never strong enough to be always the master, unless he transforms his… — Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Political literature · Philosophical literature

The strongest is never strong enough to be always the master, unless he transforms his strength into right, and obedience into duty.

In the original French

Le plus fort n'est jamais assez fort pour etre toujours le maistre, s'il ne transforme sa force end droit et l'obeisance en devoir.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
The Social Contract · 1762
★ 5.5
Provenance
Current citation
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. "Of the Social Contract." Of the Social Contract and Other Political Writings, translated by Quintin Hoare. Penguin Classics, 2012, bk. 1, ch. 3.
Original citation
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. Du contrat social ou Principes du droit politique [On the Social Contract or Principles of Political Law]. Amsterdam: Marc Michel Rey, 1762, bk. 1, ch. 3.

Related quotes

Other quotes that share a subject, a time, or a voice with this one.

Power may justly be compared to a great River, while kept within its due Bonds, is both Beautiful and Useful; but when it overflows its Banks, it is then too impetuous to be stemm'd, it bears down all before it, and brings Destruction and Desolation wherever it comes. If then this is the Nature of Power, let us at least do our Duty, and like wise Men (who value Freedom) use our utmost Care to support Liberty, the only Bulwark against lawless Power, which in all Ages has sacrificed to it's wild Lust and boundless Ambition, the Blood of the best Men that ever liv'd.

Another quote aboutTopic·Nature of power