Never show a child what he cannot see.  Since mankind is almost unknown to him, and since you cannot make a man of him, bring the man down to the level of the child.  While you are thinking what will be useful to him when he is older, talk to him of what he knows he can use now.  Moreover, as soon as he begins to reason let there be no comparison with other children, no rivalry, no competition, not even in running races.  I would far rather he did not learn anything than have him learn it through jealousy or self-conceit.  Year by year I shall just note the progress he had made, I shall compare the results with those of the following year, I shall say, “You have grown so much; that is the ditch you jumped, the weight you carried, the distance you flung a pebble, the race you ran without stopping to take breath, etc.; let us see what you can do now.”

In this way he is stimulated to further effort without jealousy.  He wants to excel himself as he ought to do; I see no reason why he should not emulate his own performances.

I hate books; they only teach us to talk about things we know nothing about.  Hermes, they say, engraved the elements of science on pillars lest a deluge should destroy them.  Had he imprinted them on men’s hearts they would have been preserved by tradition.  Well-trained minds are the pillars on which human knowledge is most deeply engraved.

Is there no way of correlating so many lessons scattered through so many books, no way of focussing them on some common object, easy to see, interesting to follow, and stimulating even to a child?  Could we but discover a state in which all man’s needs appear in such a way as to appeal to the child’s mind, a state in which the ways of providing for these needs are as easily developed, the simple and stirring portrayal of this state should form the earliest training of the child’s imagination.

Eager philosopher, I see your own imagination at work.  Spare yourself the trouble; this state is already known, it is described, with due respect to you, far better than you could describe it, at least with greater truth and simplicity.  Since we must have books, there is one book which, to my thinking, supplies the best treatise on an education according to nature.  This is the first book Emile will read; for a long time it will form his whole library, and it will always retain an honoured place.  It will be the text to which all our talks about natural science are but the commentary.  It will serve to test our progress towards a right judgment, and it will always be read with delight, so long as our taste is unspoilt.  What is this wonderful book?  Is it Aristotle?  Pliny?  Buffon?  No; it is Robinson Crusoe.