Q0252
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
A verified English rendering from the curated archive.
English
Everything is good as it leaves the hands of the Author of things; everything degenerates in the hands of man.
Source context
This English passage is associated with Émile I, within the tradition of Enlightenment. The wording below is a verified rendering prepared for careful reading rather than a claim of unique translation authority.
A short reading
Read in the register of nature, the sentence asks the reader to test an assumption rather than to collect a slogan. In Jean-Jacques Rousseau's wider work, similar claims are usually offered as prompts for judgment: what would have to be true for the sentence to hold, and what would follow if it did?
How to cite this quotation
APA: Jean-Jacques Rousseau. (n.d.). Everything is good as it leaves the hands of the Author of things; everything degenerates in the hands of man. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0252
MLA: Jean-Jacques Rousseau. “Everything is good as it leaves the hands….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0252.
Chicago: Jean-Jacques Rousseau. “Everything is good as it leaves the hands….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0252.