“Why do you consult [women's] words when it is not their mouths that speak? Consult their eyes, their colour, their breathing, their timid manner, their slight resistance, that is the language nature gave them for your answer. The lips always say 'No,' and rightly so; but the tone is not always the same, and that cannot lie. Has not a woman the same needs as a man, but without the same right to make them known? Her fate would be too cruel if she had no language in which to express her legitimate desires except the words which she dare not utter.”

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About Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. He is best known for his political thought, which had a wide influence during the Age of Enlightenment and later in the French Revolution. Rousseau worked across philosophy, literature, and music, but his lasting reputation rests above all on the force of his political ideas. His writing helped shape debate in the eighteenth century, and his influence continued well beyond his own time.

More from Jean-Jacques Rousseau (121 quotes) →

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Books by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Les confessions

1856

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Du contrat social

1970

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Emile or Education

2006

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Discours sur l'origine et les fondements de l'inégalité parmi les hommes

2004

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The Social Contract And Discourse On The Origin Of Inequality

1967

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