“ The ignorant man never looks before; he knows little of the value of life and does not fear to lose it; the wise man sees things of greater worth and prefers them to it. ”
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile, or On Education (1762). copy citation
Author | Jean-Jacques Rousseau |
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Source | Emile, or On Education |
Topic | fear value |
Date | 1762 |
Language | English |
Reference | |
Note | Translated by Barbara Foxley |
Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/5427/pg5427-images.html |
Context
“If we had the offer of immortality here below, who would accept the sorrowful gift? [Footnote: You understand I am speaking of those who think, and not of the crowd.] What resources, what hopes, what consolation would be left against the cruelties of fate and man's injustice? The ignorant man never looks before; he knows little of the value of life and does not fear to lose it; the wise man sees things of greater worth and prefers them to it. Half knowledge and sham wisdom set us thinking about death and what lies beyond it; and they thus create the worst of our ills. The wise man bears life's ills all the better because he knows he must die.”
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