Quote by Jean-Jacques Rousseau: “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.”

We come into the world with natural freedom, but society — its laws, hierarchies, and customs — quickly ties us down. Rousseau is not calling for chaos; he is asking how society might be reorganised so that its rules serve freedom rather than destroy it.

Rousseau published The Social Contract in 1762, three decades before the French Revolution it would help inspire. Europe was governed by absolute monarchies, hereditary aristocracies, and established churches — all of which Rousseau's opening line implicitly challenged.

Genevan philosopher and writer whose ideas about natural freedom, the social contract, and education profoundly influenced the French Revolution and modern political thought. His 1762 work The Social Contract opened with this line and transformed European political philosophy.