THE strongest is never strong enough to be always the master, unless he transforms strength into right, and obedience into duty. Hence the right of the strongest, which, though to all seeming meant ironically, is really laid down as a fundamental principle. But are we never to have an explanation of this phrase? Force is a physical power, and I fail to see what moral effect it can have. To yield to force is an act of necessity, not of will -- at the most, an act of prudence. In what sense can it be a duty?
       Suppose for a moment that this so-called "right" exists. I maintain that the sole result is a mass of inexplicable nonsense. For, if force creates right, the effect changes with the cause: every force that is greater than the first succeeds to its right. As soon as it is possible to disobey with impunity, disobedience is legitimate; and, the strongest being always in the right, the only thing that matters is to act so as to become the strongest. But what kind of right is that which perishes when force fails? If we must obey perforce, there is no need to obey because we ought; and if we are not forced to obey, we are under no obligation to do so. Clearly, the word "right" adds nothing to force: in this connection, it means absolutely nothing.
       Obey the powers that be. If this means yield to force, it is a good precept, but superfluous: I can answer for its never being violated. All power comes from God, I admit; but so does all sickness: does that mean that we are forbidden to call in the doctor? A brigand surprises me at the edge of a wood: must I not merely surrender my purse on compulsion; but, even if I could withhold it, am I in conscience bound to give it up? For certainly the pistol he holds is also a power.
       Let us then admit that force does not create right, and that we are obliged to obey only legitimate powers. In that case, my original question recurs.

Foreward
book i
   1. Subject of the First Book
   2. The First Societies
   3. The Right of the Strongest
   4. Slavery
   5. That We Must Always Go Back to a First Convention
   6. The Social Compact
   7. The Sovereign
   8. The Civil State
   9. Real Property
   Notes
book ii
   1. That Sovereignty is Inalienable
   2. That Sovereignty is Indivisible
   3. Whether the General Will is Fallible
   4. The Limits of the Sovereign Power
   5. The Right of Life and Death
   6. Law
   7. The Legislator
   8. The People
   9. The People (continued)
   10. The People (continued)
   11. The Various Systems of Legislation
   12. The Division of the Laws
   Notes
book iii
   1. Government in General
   2. The Constituent Principle in the Various Forms of Government
   3. The Division of Governments
   4. Democracy
   5. Aristocracy
   6. Monarchy
   7. Mixed Governments
   8. That All Forms of Government Do Not Suit All Countries
   9. The Marks of a Good Government
   10. The Abuse of Government and Its Tendency to Degenerate
   11. The Death of the Body Politic
   12. How the Sovereign Authority Maintains Itself
   13. The Same (continued)
   14. The Same (continued)
   15. Deputies or Representatives
   16. That the Institution of Government is not a Contract
   17. The Institution of Government
   18. How to Check the Usurpations of Government
   Notes
book iv
   1. That the General Will is Indestructible
   2. Voting
   3. Elections
   4. The Roman Comitia
   5. The Tribunate
   6. The Dictatorship
   7. The Censorship
   8. Civil Religion
   9. Conclusion
   Notes