“ In youth, dark, premeditated villainy is more criminal than in a riper age, but weaknesses are much less so ”
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Confessions (1782). copy citation
| Author | Jean-Jacques Rousseau |
|---|---|
| Source | Confessions |
| Topic | weakness youth |
| Date | 1782 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | Translated by Samuel William Orson |
| Weblink | https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Confessions_(Rousseau) |
Context
“if you are guilty own it,"--I am convinced I should instantly have thrown myself at his feet; but they intimidated, instead of encouraging me. I was hardly out of my childhood, or rather, was yet in it. It is also just to make some allowance for my age. In youth, dark, premeditated villainy is more criminal than in a riper age, but weaknesses are much less so; my fault was truly nothing more; and I am less afflicted at the deed itself than for its consequences. It had one good effect, however, in preserving me through the rest of my life from any criminal action, from the terrible impression that has remained from the only one I ever committed;”
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