Jean-Jacques Rousseau (c. 1712-1778)
“As I was born a citizen of a free State, and a member of the Sovereign, I feel that, however feeble the influence my voice can have on public affairs, the right of voting on them makes it my duty to study them: and I am happy, when I reflect upon governments, to find my inquiries always furnish me with new reasons for loving that of my own country.”
- From the introduction of Book I in The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The quoted edition was translated and published by the Great Books Foundation (Chicago, Illinois, 1948).
