Patience patience quotes is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.
Jean-Jacques RousseauRead
Your first duty is to be humane. Love childhood. Look with friendly eyes on its games, its pleasures, its amiable dispositions. Which of you does not sometimes look back regretfully on the age when laughter was ever on the lips and the heart free of care? Why steal from the little innocents the enjoyment of a time that passes all too quickly?
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of cherishing childhood and maintaining a humane perspective towards it.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau reflects on the intrinsic value of childhood, urging adults to appreciate and nurture the joy and innocence that define this stage of life. He questions the tendency to take away the simple pleasures of childhood, reminding us of the fleeting nature of this precious time and the need for a compassionate and joyful approach to childhood experiences.
Themes
ChildhoodInnocenceJoyHumaneLaughter
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about child welfare, one might use this quote to stress the importance of protecting children's joy.
More from Jean-Jacques Rousseau
All quotes →The infant, on opening his eyes, ought to see his country, and to the hour of his death never lose sight of it.
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What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?
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O love, if I regret the age when one savors you, it is not for the hour of pleasure, but for the one that follows it.
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Those people who treat politics and morality separately will never understand either of them.
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As evening approached, I came down from the heights of the island, and I liked then to go and sit on the shingle in some secluded spot by the lake; there the noise of the waves and the movement of the water, taking hold of my senses and driving all other agitation from my soul, would plunge me into delicious reverie in which night often stole upon me unawares.
Jean-Jacques RousseauRead
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