{ "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/not-long-before", "json": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/not-long-before.json", "markdown": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/not-long-before.md", "id": "7850126e-ea0e-4a8d-bbcb-0e87c428044e", "slug": "not-long-before", "text": "Not long before the child had passed a small stone which had torn the passage, but the trouble was over and forgotten. \"Mamma,\" said the eager child, \"where do little children come from?\" \"My child,\" replied his mother without hesitation, \"women pass them with pains that sometimes cost their life.\" Let fools laugh and silly people be shocked; but let the wise inquire if it is possible to find a wiser answer and one which would better serve its purpose. In the first place the thought of a need of nature with which the child is well acquainted turns his thoughts from the idea of a mysterious process. The accompanying ideas of pain and death cover it with a veil of sadness which deadens the imagination and suppresses curiosity; everything leads the mind to the results, not the causes, of child-birth. This is the information to which this answer leads. If the repugnance inspired by this answer should permit the child to inquire further, his thoughts are turned to the infirmities of human nature, disgusting things, images of pain. What chance is there for any stimulation of desire in such a conversation? And yet you see there is no departure from truth, no need to deceive the scholar in order to teach him.", "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": "children", "slug": "children", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/children" }, { "name": "sex", "slug": "sex", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/sex" }, { "name": "upbringing", "slug": "upbringing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/upbringing" } ], "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" } ] }