{ "type": "quote", "site": { "name": "Leafy Quotes", "language": "en", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com" }, "formats": "Every page has two versions with the same data: JSON (the page address + .json) and markdown (the page address + .md). Append .json or .md to any `url` in this document.", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/footnote-the-precept", "json": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/footnote-the-precept.json", "markdown": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/footnote-the-precept.md", "id": "015205d9-4ce5-4b05-a437-ff4a87de52b0", "slug": "footnote-the-precept", "text": "[Footnote: The precept \"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you\" has no true foundation but that of conscience and feeling; for what valid reason is there why I, being myself, should do what I would do if I were some one else, especially when I am morally certain I never shall find myself in exactly the same case; and who will answer for it that if I faithfully follow out this maxim, I shall get others to follow it with regard to me? The wicked takes advantage both of the uprightness of the just and of his own injustice; he will gladly have everybody just but himself. This bargain, whatever you may say, is not greatly to the advantage of the just. But if the enthusiasm of an overflowing heart identifies me with my fellow-creature, if I feel, so to speak, that I will not let him suffer lest I should suffer too, I care for him because I care for myself, and the reason of the precept is found in nature herself, which inspires me with the desire for my own welfare wherever I may be. From this I conclude that it is false to say that the precepts of natural law are based on reason only; they have a firmer and more solid foundation. The love of others springing from self-love, is the source of human justice. The whole of morality is summed up in the gospel in this summary of the law.]", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Emile; or On Education", "slug": "emile-or-on-education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "morality", "slug": "morality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality" }, { "name": "justice", "slug": "justice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/justice" }, { "name": "empathy", "slug": "empathy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_IV", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:34", "more_from_book": [ { "id": "f9addfa9-a0ca-4ffe-8f74-8adf51607317", "slug": "where-is-the-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/where-is-the-man", "text": "Where is the man who owes nothing to the land in which he lives? Whatever that land may be, he owes to it the most precious thing possessed by man, the morality of his actions and the love of virtue.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "homeland", "slug": "homeland", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/homeland" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_V", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:49:17" }, { "id": "fd1e8dc4-3494-489f-bd85-64f0284b2d67", "slug": "gluttony-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/gluttony-is-the", "text": "Gluttony is the vice of feeble minds. The gourmand has his brains in his palate, he can do nothing but eat; he is so stupid and incapable that the table is the only place for him, and dishes are the only things he knows anything about. Let us leave him to this business without regret; it is better for him and for us.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "stupidity", "slug": "stupidity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/stupidity" }, { "name": "food", "slug": "food", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/food" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_II", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:49:16" }, { "id": "e128a050-d429-4d14-bcf2-787868b4245a", "slug": "nature-never-deceives", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/nature-never-deceives", "text": "Nature never deceives us; it is always we who deceive ourselves.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "nature", "slug": "nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nature" }, { "name": "lies", "slug": "lies", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/lies" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_III", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:49:16" } ] }