"Boys and girls have many games in common, and this is as it should be; do they not play together when they are grown up? They have also special tastes of their own. Boys want movement and noise, drums, tops, toy-carts; girls prefer things which appeal to the eye, and can be used for dressing-up—mirrors, jewellery, finery, and specially dolls. The doll is the girl's special plaything; this shows her instinctive bent towards her life's work. The art of pleasing finds its physical basis in personal adornment, and this physical side of the art is the only one which the child can cultivate. Here is a little girl busy all day with her doll; she is always changing its clothes, dressing and undressing it, trying new combinations of trimmings well or ill matched; her fingers are clumsy, her taste is crude, but there is no mistaking her bent; in this endless occupation time flies unheeded, the hours slip away unnoticed, even meals are forgotten. She is more eager for adornment than for food. "But she is dressing her doll, not herself," you will say. Just so; she sees her doll, she cannot see herself; she cannot do anything for herself, she has neither the training, nor the talent, nor the strength; as yet she herself is nothing, she is engrossed in her doll and all her coquetry is devoted to it. This will not always be so; in due time she will be her own doll."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
translated by Barbara Foxley
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile%2C_or_On_Education
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Emile, or On Education
Emile, or On Education or Émile, Or Treatise on Education is a treatise on the nature of education and on the nature of man written by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who considered it to be the best and most important of all his writings. Due to a section of the book entitled “Profession of Faith of the Savoyard Vicar,” Emile was banned in Paris and Geneva and was publicly burned in 1762, the year of its first publication. During the French Revolution, Emile served as the inspiration for what became a n
391 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Emile, or On Education →
Related Quotes
"Parents choose a husband for their daughter and she is only consulted as a matter of form; that is the custom. We sha…"
"If you would guard against these abuses, and secure happy marriages, you must stifle your prejudices, forget human in…"
"I cannot repeat too often that I am not dealing with prodigies. Emile is no prodigy, neither is Sophy. He is a man an…"
""Husband and wife should choose each other. A mutual liking should be the first bond between them. They should follow…"
"Not every one can realise the motive power to be found in a love of what is right, nor the inner strength which resul…"
"The reply was simple. If it were only a question of the partner of her youth, her choice would soon be made; but a ma…"
"I am glad you feel this," said I, "but you need not be surprised; where strangers are scarce, they are welcome; nothi…"
"What is there to kindle the hearts of lovers for whom this perfection is nothing, for whom the loved one is merely th…"
"In a word, she endures patiently the wrong-doing of others, and she is eager to atone for her own. This amiability is…"
"By nature man thinks but seldom. He learns to think as he acquires the other arts, but with even greater difficulty. …"