All the world knows me in my book, and my book in me.
Michel De MontaigneRead
For truly it is to be noted, that children's plays are not sports, and should be deemed as their most serious actions.
Interpretation
Children's play is an important and serious part of their development.
The quote emphasizes the importance of children's playtime, suggesting that it is not merely frivolous entertainment but rather a serious and essential aspect of their growth and development. Montaigne argues that through play, children engage in meaningful activities that contribute to their understanding of the world and themselves.
In practice
In a talk on child development, I highlighted that children's plays are vital for their growth.
All the world knows me in my book, and my book in me.
All I say is by way of discourse, and nothing by way of advice. I should not speak so boldly if it were my due to be believed.
Pythagoras used to say that life resembles the Olympic Games: a few people strain their muscles to carry off a prize; others bring trinkets to sell to the crowd for gain; and some there are, and not the worst, who seek no other profit than to look at the show and see how and why everything is done; spectators of the life of other people in order to judge and regulate their own.
There is not much less vexation in the government of a private family than in the managing of an entire state.
Those who have compared our life to a dream were right... we were sleeping wake, and waking sleep.
Such as are in immediate fear of a losing their estates, of banishment, or of slavery, live in perpetual anguish, and lose all appetite and repose; whereas such as are actually poor, slaves, or exiles, ofttimes live as merrily as other folk.
Rather, very, little, pretty - these are the leeches that infest the pond of prose, sucking the blood of words. The constant use of the adjective little (except to indicate size) is particularly debilitating; we should all try to do a little better, we should all be very watchful of this rule, for it is a rather important one, and we are pretty sure to violate it now and then.
I grew up to be indifferent to the distinction between literature and science, which in my teens were simply two languages for experience that I learned together.
The child is truly a miraculous being, and this should be felt deeply by the educator.
When our students fail, we, as teachers, too, have failed.
Personally I do not resort to force - not even the force of law - to advance moral reforms. I prefer education, argument, persuasion, and above all the influence of example - of fashion.
We may always depend on it that algebra, which cannot be translated into good English and sound common sense, is bad algebra.
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