"It is nearly always good, but badly-directed principles, that make a child take the first step towards evil. In spite of continual privations and temptations, I had been more than a year with my master without being able to make up my mind to take anything, even eatables. My first theft was a matter of obliging someone else, but it opened the door to others, the motive of which was not so praiseworthy."

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Added on April 10, 2026
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Original Language: English

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https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Confessions_(Rousseau)