| The Columbia World of Quotations. 1996. |
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| NUMBER: | 47372 |
| QUOTATION: | The English people believes itself to be free; it is gravely mistaken; it is free only during election of members of parliament; as soon as the members are elected, the people is enslaved; it is nothing. In the brief moment of its freedom, the English people makes such a use of that freedom that it deserves to lose it. |
| ATTRIBUTION: | Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778), Swiss-born-French philosopher, political theorist. The Social Contract, bk. 3, ch. 15 (1762). |
| BIOGRAPHY: | Columbia Encyclopedia. |
| WORKS: | Rousseau Collection. |
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| | | The Columbia World of Quotations. Copyright © 1996 Columbia University Press. |
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