"I think this is enough to make it intelligible how, although not a fool, I have often been taken for one, even by people who were in a position to judge correctly; what aggravates my misfortune is the fact that my eyes and features give promise of something better, and the failure of this hope makes my stupidity more startling to others. This detailed explanation, to which a special circumstance has led me, is not without its use in reference to what follows. It contains the solution of many extraordinary things which I have done, and which are attributed to an unsociable disposition which I by no means possess. I should be as fond of society as anyone else, if I was not sure of appearing in it, not only to my own disadvantage, but quite a different person from what I really am. My resolution to write and live in seclusion, is exactly that which suits me. If I had been present, my powers would never have been known, or even suspected"
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Confessions_(Rousseau)
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Confessions (Rousseau)
153 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Confessions (Rousseau) →
Related Quotes
"I know nothing which exercises a more powerful influence upon my heart than an act of courage, performed at an opport…"
"I can understand how it is that the inhabitants of cities, who see nothing but walls, streets and crimes, have so lit…"
"I have learned to doubt whether a man, who is the possessor of a large fortune, whoever he may be, can be sincerely f…"
"An enemy to everything that comes under the denomination of party, faction, and cabal, I have never expected any good…"
"So difficult is it to manage the irritable amour-propre of literary men, and such great care is necessary, in paying …"
"It is in the country that one learns to love and serve humanity; one only learns to despise it in cities."
"for the first time since the existence of the world, an author permits himself, by a single stroke of the pen, to mak…"
"I might have thrown myself entirely into the most lucrative path, and, instead of lowering my pen to copying, I might…"
"It is too difficult to think nobly, when one thinks only in order to live. In order to be able and to venture to utte…"
"There is no soul so vile, no heart so barbarous, that it is not susceptible of some kind of attachment."