Quotes · Quote card
Quotation from The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
“whoever refuses to obey the general will shall be compelled to do so by the whole body. This means nothing less than that he will be forced to be free”
The Social Contract, Book I, Chapter VII, trans. G. D. H. Cole (1913)
The most controversial sentence in the book, defended by Rousseau as protection against personal dependence.
Citation: "whoever refuses to obey the general will shall be compelled to do so by the whole body. This means nothing less than that he will be forced to be free" — Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, Book I, Chapter VII, trans. G. D. H. Cole (1913). (id the-social-contract-q5)
Portrait: Portrait of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778), Maurice Quentin de La Tour, Public domain.
