Victor de Riqueti, marquis de Mirabeau

This chapter presents Jean-Jacques Rousseau's letter to Victor de Riqueti, marquis de Mirabeau, on January 31, 1767. Rousseau begins the letter by expressing his gratitude for Riqueti's consolation and generosity. However, he rejects Riqueti's offer of being his guest, saying that he will regret France all his life. Rousseau then declares that everything that is related in some way to literature “has become so perfectly unbearable to me, and memory of it recalls so many sad ideas, that in order not to think about it anymore I made the decision to rid myself of all my books, which were very inopportunely sent me from Switzerland.” He also talks about the fatigue of thinking and how all of his misfortunes came to him from an ardent hatred of injustice that he has never been able to tame.