QuoteProject
You forget that the fruits belong to all and that the land belongs to no one.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote emphasizes communal ownership and the idea that nature's resources should be shared by all rather than being owned by individuals.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau's quote highlights the philosophical idea that while individuals may claim ownership of land, the resources it produces, represented metaphorically by 'fruits', are meant for the collective benefit of all humanity. This reflects Rousseau's broader beliefs regarding democracy, social contracts, and the importance of community over personal possession.

Themes

CommunityOwnershipNatureResourcesCollectivePhilosophy

In practice

Example use cases

During a community meeting discussing land use, this quote could be mentioned to emphasize the shared responsibility of natural resources.

More from Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Patience patience quotes is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.
Jean-Jacques RousseauRead
The infant, on opening his eyes, ought to see his country, and to the hour of his death never lose sight of it.
Jean-Jacques RousseauRead
What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?
Jean-Jacques RousseauRead
O love, if I regret the age when one savors you, it is not for the hour of pleasure, but for the one that follows it.
Jean-Jacques RousseauRead
Those people who treat politics and morality separately will never understand either of them.
Jean-Jacques RousseauRead
As evening approached, I came down from the heights of the island, and I liked then to go and sit on the shingle in some secluded spot by the lake; there the noise of the waves and the movement of the water, taking hold of my senses and driving all other agitation from my soul, would plunge me into delicious reverie in which night often stole upon me unawares.
Jean-Jacques RousseauRead

Similar quotes

Somehow, we have come to the erroneous belief that we are all but flesh, blood, and bones, and that's all. So we direct our values to material things.
Maya AngelouRead
Attention should be paid to this question of our soul, and not simply to accounting procedures. Attention should be paid to the interest of those who are yet unborn, who should be able to see this generation as it saw itself, and the past generation as it saw itself.
George LucasRead
The reality we live in is selected by our conceptual definitions. You and I may be in the same physical space, but each of us will see it as entirely different.
Ram DassRead
Dreams are the touchstones of our character.
Henry David ThoreauRead
We have lingered in the chambers of the sea By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown Till human voices wake us... and we drown.
T. S. EliotRead
No man is prejudiced in favor of a thing, knowing it to be wrong. He is attached to it on the belief of its being right; and when he sees it is not so, the prejudice will be gone.
Thomas PaineRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.