No one has yet fully realized the wealth of sympathy, kindness and generosity hidden in the soul of a child. The effort of every true education should be to unlock that treasure.

The quotation frames childhood as a reservoir of latent moral and emotional capacities—sympathy, kindness, generosity—that conventional society often overlooks or suppresses. It argues that education’s highest purpose is not mere instruction or discipline, but the careful “unlocking” of these humane impulses. Read in light of Emma Goldman’s broader critique of authoritarian institutions, the line implies that coercive schooling can stunt natural fellow-feeling, while a “true education” would cultivate autonomy, empathy, and social responsibility. The metaphor of hidden treasure also suggests that these qualities are intrinsic rather than externally imposed, and that educators bear an ethical duty to create conditions where a child’s innate social sensibility can emerge and flourish.