“ When once we make a secret of anything to the person we love, we soon make little scruple of doing it in everything ”
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Confessions (1782). copy citation
Author | Jean-Jacques Rousseau |
---|---|
Source | Confessions |
Topic | love secret |
Date | 1782 |
Language | English |
Reference | |
Note | Translated by Samuel William Orson |
Weblink | https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Confessions_(Rousseau) |
Context
“I had begged Theresa not to invite any of her relations to the Hermitage, and she had promised me she would not. These were sent for in my absence, without consulting her, and she was afterwards prevailed upon to promise not to say anything of the matter. After the first step was taken all the rest were easy. When once we make a secret of anything to the person we love, we soon make little scruple of doing it in everything; the moment I was at the Chevrette the Hermitage was full of people who sufficiently amused themselves. A mother has always great power over a daughter of a mild disposition; yet notwithstanding all the old woman could do, she was never able to prevail upon Theresa to enter into her views, nor to persuade her to join in the league against me.”
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