Walking
animates and enlivens my spirits; I can hardly think when in a state of
inactivity; my body must be exercised to make my judgment active. The
view of a fine country, a succession of agreeable prospects, a free air,
a good appetite, and the health I gain by walking; the freedom of inns,
and the distance from everything that can make me recollect the dependence
of my situation, conspire to free my soul, and give boldness to my thoughts,
throwing me, in a manner, into the immensity of beings, where I combine,
choose, and appropriate them to my fancy, without constraint or fear.
I dispose of all nature as I please; my heart wandering from object to
object, approximates and unites with those that please it, is surrounded
by charming images, and becomes intoxicated with delicious sensations.
If, attempting to render these permanent, I am amused in describing to
myself, what glow of coloring, what energy of expression, do I give them!
1782: THE CONFESSIONS OF JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU, by Jean-Jacques
Rousseau. Translated by W. Conyngham Mallory. |