“I know my heart, and have studied mankind; I am not made like any one I have been acquainted with, perhaps like no one in existence; if not better, I at least claim originality, and whether Nature did wisely in breaking the mould with which she formed me, can only be determined after having read this work.”
Variant translations: I may not be better than other people, but at least I am different.
If I am not better, at least I am different.
Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1765-1770; published 1782), Book I
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Jean Jacques Rousseau91
Genevan philosopher 1712–1778Related quotes
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Criticism
Johann Gottlieb Fichte book The Vocation of Man
Wenn ich nur dasjenige weiß, und von ihm überzeugt bin, was ich selbst gefunden, – nur dasjenige wirklich kenne, was ich selbst erfahren habe, so kann ich in der That nicht sagen, daß ich über meine Bestimmung das Geringste wisse; ich weiß blos, was Andre darüber zu wissen behaupten.
Source: The Vocation of Man (1800), P. Preuss, trans. (1987), p. 4