"Not only do short-sighted mothers offer ornaments as rewards to their children, but there are foolish tutors who threaten to make their pupils wear the plainest and coarsest clothes as a punishment. "If you do not do your lessons better, if you do not take more care of your clothes, you shall be dressed like that little peasant boy." This is like saying to them, "Understand that clothes make the man." Is it to be wondered at that our young people profit by such wise teaching, that they care for nothing but dress, and that they only judge of merit by its outside. Before the child is enslaved by our prejudices his first wish is always to be free and comfortable. The plainest and most comfortable clothes, those which leave him most liberty, are what he always likes best."
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. …"