“Once you teach people to say what they do not understand, it is easy enough to get them to say anything you like.”

— Jean Jacques Rousseau

Source: Emile or On Education

Last update Sept. 29, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Once you teach people to say what they do not understand, it is easy enough to get them to say anything you like." by Jean Jacques Rousseau?

Jean Jacques Rousseau 91

Genevan philosopher 1712–1778

Related quotes

“It's easy to say you will do what's right and shun what's wrong, but when you get close enough to any given situation, you realize that thereno black or white. There are gradations of gray.”

Jodi Picoult book The Storyteller

Source: The Storyteller

“You can say anything if enough people will listen.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Invisible Monsters

Source: Invisible Monsters

“I hope the next time I move I get a real easy phone number, something that's real easy to remember. Something like two two two two two two two. I would say "Sweet." And then people would say "Mitch, how do I get a hold of you?" I'd say "Just press two for a while and when I answer, you will know you have pressed two enough."”

Mitch Hedberg (1968–2005) American stand-up comedian

Strategic Grill Locations

“It's funny. All you have to do is say something nobody understands and they'll do practically anything you want them to.”

Jerome David Salinger book The Catcher in the Rye

The Catcher in the Rye (1951)

“People who take things too literally don't get much of anything from my teaching. By never saying anything I mean, I say a great deal. I never mean anything I say under oath. I never mean exactly what I say. Not even this. You have to read between the words.”

John Sloan (1871–1951) American painter

In John Sloan on Drawing and Painting. Mineola NY: Dover Publications, 2000. Originally published in 1939 as The Gist of Art, p. 7.
The Gist of Art (1939)

“People think that I can teach them style. What stuff it all is! Have something to say, and say it as clearly as you can. That is the only secret of style.”

Matthew Arnold (1822–1888) English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools

G.W.E. Russell, Collections and Recollections, ch. XIV, Harper & brothers, 1898, p. 136 https://archive.org/details/collectionsandr02russgoog/page/n152. Russell states that was said to him by Arnold himself.
Attributed