Plus le corps est faible, plus il commande ; plus il est fort, plus il obéit. - Jean-Jacques Rousseau

When all was right around me, when I was content with everything, and satisfied with the sphere I was to occupy, I filled it with my affections, while my expansive soul, extending itself to other objects, was perpetually attracted by a thousand different inclinations, and by amiable attachments, which continually employed my heart: in these situations I forgot myself in some measure, thinking principally on what was foreign to me, and experiencing in the continual agitation of my feelings, all the vicissitude of earthly things. This exquisite sensibility lest me neither inward peace, nor outward repose; happy in appearance only, I had not a single sentiment that could have borne the proof of reflection, or with which I could truly have been content. Never was I perfectly satisfied either with others or myself; the tumult of the world made me giddy, solitude wearied me, I perpetually wished for a change of situation, and met with happiness in none.

"Hold childhood in reverence, and do not be in any hurry to judge it for good or ill. Leave exceptional cases to show themselves, let their qualities be tested and confirmed, before special methods are adopted. Give nature time to work before you take over her business, lest you interfere with her dealings. You assert that you know the value of time and are afraid to waste it. You fail to perceive that it is a greater waste of time to use it ill than to do nothing, and that a child ill taught is further from virtue than a child who has learnt nothing at all. You are afraid to see him spending his early years doing nothing. What! is it nothing to be happy, nothing to run and jump all day? He will never be so busy again all his life long. Plato, in his Republic, which is considered so stern, teaches the children only through festivals, games, songs, and amusements. It seems as if he had accomplished his purpose when he had taught them to be happy; and Seneca, speaking of the Roman lads in olden days, says, "They were always on their feet, they were never taught anything which kept them sitting." Were they any the worse for it in manhood? Do not be afraid, therefore, of this so-called idleness. What would you think of a man who refused to sleep lest he should waste part of his life? You would say, "He is mad; he is not enjoying his life, he is robbing himself of part of it; to avoid sleep he is hastening his death." Remember that these two cases are alike, and that childhood is the sleep of reason.

The apparent ease with which children learn is their ruin. You fail to see that this very facility proves that they are not learning. Their shining, polished brain reflects, as in a mirror, the things you show them, but nothing sinks in. The child remembers the words and the ideas are reflected back; his hearers understand them, but to him they are meaningless.

Although memory and reason are wholly different faculties, the one does not really develop apart from the other.

Bu kadar acımasızca bir zorlamanın onların huyu, karakteri üstünde etki yapmaması mümkün müdür? İlk duyguları acı ve üzüntüdür: Gereksinim duydukları tüm hareketlerde yalnızca engellerle karşılaşırlar. Zincire vurulmuş bir caniden daha mutsuz olarak, boşuna çabalar, öfkelenir, bağırırlar. İlk çıkardıkları ses ağlama demez misiniz? Pekâlâ böyle olduğunu sanıyorum:
Doğar doğmaz canlarını sıkıyorsunuz; sizden aldıkları ilk armağan zincirler oluyor. Sizden gördükleri ilk davranış verdiğiniz acılardır. Sesten başka özgür bir şeyleri olmadığına göre, yakınmak için nasıl bunu kullanmasınlar ki? Onlara yaptığınız kötülük yüzünden bağırıyorlar: Böyle eli kolu bağlı durumda olsaydınız, siz onlardan daha çok bağırırdınız.