it is our common miseries that turn our hearts to humanity

“Human beings are not by nature kings, or lords, or courtiers, or rich. All are born naked and poor; all are subject to the miseries of life, to sorrows, ills, needs, and pains of every kind. Finally, all are condemned to death. . . . It is the weakness of the human being that makes us sociable; it is our common miseries that turn our hearts to humanity; we would owe humanity nothing if we were not human. Every attachment is a sign of insufficiency. If each of us had no need of others, he would hardly think of uniting himself with them. Thus from our weak- ness our fragile happiness is born. . . . I do not conceive how someone who needs nothing can love anything. I do not conceive how someone who loves nothing can be happy.”

—Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile, Book IV