But I with anguish think upon a deed
Of more than common horror, which remains
By me to be accomplish'd: for my Sons
Am I resolved to slay, them from this arm
Shall no man rescue.
[tr. Wodhull (1782)]

But what a deed,
Ay, there my heart is anguish'd, what a deed
Must next be done! My sons -- I'll kill them both,
And who shall save them from me?
[tr. Potter (1814)]

But I am woe for what a deed
Needs must be done: for I shall slay my sons.
No one there is who may deliver them.
[tr. Webster (1868)]

But I shudder at the deed I must do next; for I will slay the children I have borne; there is none shall take them from my toils.
[tr. Coleridge (1891)]

But I bewail the deed such as must next be done by me; for I shall slay my children; there is no one who shall rescue them from me.
[tr. Buckley (1892)]

And wail the deed that yet for me remains
To bring to pass; for I will slay my children,
Yea, mine: no man shall pluck them from mine hand.
[tr. Way (Loeb) (1894)]

I gnash my teeth
Thinking on what a path my feet must tread
Thereafter. I shall lay those children dead --
Mine, whom no hand shall steal from me away!
[tr. Murray (1906)]

Oh, my heart
Cries at the thought of what a deed I must
Do after that. For I must kill my children,
Mine own. There lives not who shall rescue them.
[tr. Lucas; ed. Higham (1938)]

I weep to think of what a deed I have to do
Next after that; for I shall kill my own children.
My children, there is none who can give them safety.
[tr. Warner (1944)]

I moan for the kind of task that I must proceed
To accomplish. For I shall put the children to death --
My children. No one will save them from me.
[tr. Podlecki (1989)]

Ah me, I groan at what a deed I must do next! I shall kill my children: there is no one who can rescue them.
[tr. Kovacs (Loeb) (1994)]

It makes me groan to think what deed I must do net. For I shall kill my own children; no one shall take them from me.
[tr. Davie (1996)]

Ah! How I shudder with fear for the monstrous deed that I must do!
Immediately after the murder of the Princess I will have to murder my own children. No one can save them, now, no one!
[tr. Theodoridis (2004)]

I grieve over the deed I must do
after this. For I shall kill my children.
There is no one who will rescue them.
[tr. Luschnig (2007)]

But the next thing I’ll do fills me with pain --
I’m going to kill my children. There’s no one
can save them now.
[tr. Johnston (2008), l. 940ff]

Now hear what follows: I weep for what I must do; for then I'll kill my children. No one will give relief.
[tr. Kovacs / Kitzinger (2016)]

I have mourned the kind of thing that I need to do
After this: For I will kill my children.
There is no one who will save them.
[tr. @sentantiq (2020)]

But then
I'm miserable about what I must do.
I have to kill my children; no one
will take them from my hands.
[tr. Ewans (2022)]

I grieve at the deed I must do next; for I will slay my own children. No one will take them from me!
[tr. Coleridge / Ceragioli / Nagy / Hour25]

Ah me, I groan at what a deed I must do next. I will kill my children: there is no one who can rescue them.
[tr. Kovacs / Zhang / Rogak]

Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is exhausting for children to have to provide explanations over and over again.
[tr. Howard (2000)]

To tell the truth, my dearest, during the daytime all mothers invent dangers as soon as the children are out of sight. There are razors for Armand to play with, fire to catch his jacket, a slow-worm to bite him, a fall to bump his head, and ponds to tumble into. So you see that maternity is a series of poems, sweet or terrible as the case may be. There's not an hour which does not have its joys and fears.
[tr. Wormeley (1842), Memoirs of Two Young Married Women]

DEAR MISS MANNERS:
Should you tell your mother something if it is important when she is talking to company? I am six.
 
GENTLE READER:
Yes, you should (after saying "Excuse me"). Here are some of the things that are important to tell your mother, even though she is talking to company:
"Mommy, the kitchen is full of smoke."
"Daddy's calling from Tokyo."
"Kristen fell out of her crib and I can't put her back."
"There's a policeman at the door and he says he wants to talk to you."
"I was just reaching for my ball, and the goldfish bowl fell over."
 
Now, here are some things that are not important, so they can wait until your mother's company has gone home:
"Mommy, I'm tired of playing blocks. What do I do now?"
"The ice-cream truck is coming down the street."
"Can I give Kristen the rest of my applesauce?"
"I can't find my crayons."
"When are we going to have lunch? I'm hungry.”

• We have not inherited the land from our fathers, we have borrowed it from our children.
• We have not inherited the earth from our fathers and are hence entitled to use it according to our wishes. We have rather borrowed it from our children ...
• The world is not given by his fathers but borrowed from his children.
• We don’t inherit the earth from our fathers, we borrow it from our children.
• We have not inherited the earth from our fathers, we are borrowing it from our children.
• We have not inherited the earth from our parents, we have borrowed it from our children.
• We have not inherited the land from our parents, we are borrowing it from our children.
• We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.
• We did not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrowed it from our descendants.
• We did not inherit our future from our ancestors, we have borrowed it from our children..

But there is another form that life can take. We can learn about it from exceptional people of our own culture, and from other cultures less destructive than ours. I am speaking of the lives of people who have undertaken to cherish the world and do it no damage, not because they are duty-bound, but because they love the world and love their children; whose work serves the earth they live on and from and with, and is therefore pleasurable and meaningful and unending; whose rewards are not deferred until “retirement,” but arrive daily and seasonally out of the details of the life of their place; whose goal is the continuance of the life of the world, which for a while animates and contains them, and which they know they can never encompass with their understanding or desire.

Old dorgs nuss their grudges, but yung pupps fight and then frolik.
 

There's no affection can exceed what children
Feel for their Mother; let this love, my Sons,
Deep in your tender bosoms be implanted:
For no attachments equal kindred ties.
[tr. Wodhull (1809)]

Children have nothing sweeter than their mother.
Love your mother children, there is no kind of love anywhere
Sweeter than this one to love.
[tr. @sentantiq (2015)]

There is no certain mark of generous souls:
For in the tempers of mankind prevails
A strange confusion. I have seen the son
Of a great father dwindle into nothing.
And virtuous children spring from wicked Sires;
Among the rich a mean contracted spirit
Have I discover'd, and the poor man's breast
Withi most exalted sentiments inspir'd.
[tr. Wodhull (1809)]

Ah! there is no sure mark to recognize a man's worth; for human nature hath in it an element of confusion. For I have seen ere now the son of a noble sire prove himself a worthless knave, and virtuous children sprung from evil parents; likewise dearth in a rich man's spirit, and in a poor man's frame a mighty soul.
[tr. Coleridge (1891)]

Alas! there is no sure mark of manliness; for the natures of mortals exhibit a confusion. For already have I seen a man who was naught sprung from a noble sire, and good children [sprung] from bad [fathers[,. and hunger in the spirit of a rich man, and a great mind in a poor body.
[tr. Buckley (1892)]

Lo, there is no sure test for manhood’s worth:
For mortal natures are confusion-fraught. --
I have seen ere now a noble father’s son
Proved nothing-worth, seen good sons of ill sires,
Starved leanness in a rich man’s very soul,
And in a poor man’s body a great heart.
[tr. Way (1896)]

How dark lies honour hid! And what turmoil
In all things human: sons of mighty men
Fallen to naught, and from ill seed again
Good fruit: yea, famine in the rich man's scroll
Writ deep, and in poor flesh a lordly soul.
[tr. Murray (1905)]

Ah! There is no exact way to test a man's worth; for human nature has confusion in it. I have seen before now the son of a noble father worth nothing, and good children from evil parents; famine in a rich man's spirit, and a mighty soul in a poor man's body.
[tr. Coleridge (1938 ed.)]

It is impossible to judge a man’s virtue with accuracy. There’s always great confusion in the nature of mortals. I, myself, have seen worthless children born of a virtuous man and from evil parents born brilliant children. I have seen a small, poor mind in a wealthy man and in the soul of a poor man, a great one.
[tr. Theodoridis (2006)]

Well, nothing is precise
when it comes to how a man is valued --
men’s natures are confusing. Before this,
I’ve seen a man worth nothing, yet he had
a noble father; I’ve known evil parents
with outstanding children, seen famine
in a rich man’s mind and a great spirit
in a poor man’s body.
[tr. Johnston (2009)]

I have known a man of a noble father who turns out
To be nothing while powerful men can rise from the low.
I have seen emptiness in a rich man’s thought
And great judgement in a poor person’s frame.
[tr. @sententiq (2020)]

Daphnis set pears, thy race shall fruit injoy.
[tr. Ogilby (1649)]

Under this influence, graft the tender Shoot;
Thy Childrens Children shall enjoy the Fruit.
[tr. Dryden (1709), ll. 68-69]

Plant, Daphnis, for the rising race thy pears.
[tr. Wrangham (1830), l. 59]

Daphnis, plant thy pear-trees. Posterity shall pluck the fruit of thy plantations.
[tr. Davidson (1854)]

Sow, Daphnis, pears, whereof thy sons shall eat.
[tr. Calverley (c. 1871)]

Engraft your peartrees, Daphnis; your children's children shall enjoy their fruits.
[tr. Wilkins (1873)]

Graft, Daphnis, graft thy trees, nor fear
Thy sons shall all the produce share.
[tr. King (1882), ll. 897-898]

You may graft new rows
Of pears; your progeny will shake the boughs.
[tr. Palmer (1883)]

Now, the pears;
so shall your children's children pluck their fruit.
[tr. Greenough (1895)]

Daphnis, plant your pear-trees. Posterity will pluck the fruit due to your care.
[tr. Bryce (1897)]

Engraft thy pear-trees, Daphnis; thy children's children shall pluck their fruit.
[tr. Mackail (1899)]

Now, Daphnis, graft
Thy pear trees, that thy children's children may
Eat of their fruit.
[tr. Mackail/Cardew (1908)]

Go, Daphnis, graft thy pears!
Sons of thy sons shall gather them in joy.
[tr. Williams (1915)]

Graft you pears, Daphnis; your children’s children shall gather the fruits you have sown.
[tr. Fairclough (Loeb) (1916)]

Daphnis, engraft thy pears, for thee, thy sons,
And their seed after them.
[tr. Royds (1922)]

Daphnis, graft you pears; your children's children
Shall pluck them in peace.
[tr. Johnson (1960)]

Daphnis, graft your pears now: your sons’ sons will enjoy them.
[tr. Day Lewis (1963)]

Daphnis, plant your pear trees ... years from now
The children of your children will gather the pears ...
[tr. Ferry (1999)]

Graft
your pears, Daphnis: your grandchildren will gather their fruit.
[tr. Kline (2001)] ]]> https://wist.info/virgil/66364/feed/ 0 66364 https://wist.info/augustine-of-hippo/66221/ https://wist.info/augustine-of-hippo/66221/#respond Mon, 15 Jan 2024 22:53:16 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=66221 Earthly riches can neither bless us nor our children with happiness; we must either lose them in this life or leave them to be enjoyed after our death by one, we cannot tell whom, perhaps by those we would not should have them.
 
[Felices enim uel nos uel filios nostros non diuitiae terrenae faciunt aut nobis uiuentibus amittendae aut nobis mortuis a quibus nescimus uel forte a quibus nolumus possidendae.]

Augustine of Hippo (354-430) Christian church father, philosopher, saint [b. Aurelius Augustinus]
City of God [De Civitate Dei], Book 5, ch. 18 (5.18) (AD 412-416) [tr. Healey (1610)]
    (Source)

(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:

For it is not earthly riches which make us or our sons happy; for they must either be lost by us in our lifetime, or be possessed when we are dead, by whom we know not, or perhaps by whom we would not.
[tr. Dods (1871)]

The riches of this earth can make neither us nor our children happy, if they are to be lost while we are alive or, after we are dead, are to pass to people we do not know or, perhaps, dislike.
[tr. Zema/Walsh (1950)]

For neither we nor our children are made happy by earthly riches, since they are bound either to be lost while we are living or to be acquired after our death by persons unknown and perhaps unwelcome.
[tr. Green (Loeb) (1963)]

Happiness, whether for us or for our children, is not the result of earthly riches, which must either be lost by us in our lifetime or else must pass after our death into the possession of those we do not know or, it may be, of those whom we do not wish to have them.
[tr. Bettenson (1972)]

For neither we nor our sons are made happy by earthly riches. These things must either be lost while we are still alive or, after we are dead, acquired by someone whom we do not know, or perhaps by someone whom we would not wish to have them.
[tr. Dyson (1998)]

For earthly riches do not make either us or our children happy; they will either be lost while we are still alive or will pass, after our death, to someone we do not know or even to someone we do not want.
[tr. Babcock (2012)]

]]> https://wist.info/augustine-of-hippo/66221/feed/ 0 66221 https://wist.info/ginott-haim/66108/ https://wist.info/ginott-haim/66108/#respond Wed, 10 Jan 2024 18:41:07 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=66108 Children learn what they experience. They are like wet cement. Any word that falls on them makes an impact.

Haim Ginott (1922-1973) Israeli-American school teacher, child psychologist, psychotherapist [b. Haim Ginzburg]
Between Parent and Child: Revised and Updated Edition, ch. 10 “Summing Up” (2003 ed.) [with A. Ginott and H. W. Goddard]
    (Source)

Frequently paraphrased (e.g.) as "Children are like wet cement. Whatever falls on them makes an impression."

This is usually cited as being from the original 1965 edition of the book, but cannot be found there. Instead, it appears to be from the 2003 edition, as revised and updated by his wife, Dr Alice Ginott, and Dr H Wallace Goddard. It is unclear if Haim Ginott may have used this phrase in other contexts. ]]> https://wist.info/ginott-haim/66108/feed/ 0 66108 https://wist.info/gilbert-anthony/65949/ https://wist.info/gilbert-anthony/65949/#respond Wed, 03 Jan 2024 15:19:42 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=65949 Children are unreliable, foreigners to discretion.

Anthony Gilbert (1899-1973) English writer (pseud. of Lucy Beatrice Malleson)
Is She Dead Too? (1950) ]]> https://wist.info/gilbert-anthony/65949/feed/ 0 65949 https://wist.info/adams-john/65936/ https://wist.info/adams-john/65936/#respond Tue, 02 Jan 2024 23:22:41 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=65936 I must study Politicks and War that my sons may have liberty to study Mathematicks and Philosophy. My sons ought to study Mathematicks and Philosophy, Geography, natural History, Naval Architecture, navigation, Commerce and Agriculture, in order to give their Children a right to study Painting, Poetry, Musick, Architecture, Statuary, Tapestry and Porcelaine.

John Adams (1735–1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797–1801)
Letter (1780-05-12 to 15) to Abigail Adams
    (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/adams-john/65936/feed/ 0 65936 https://wist.info/diller-phyllis/65632/ https://wist.info/diller-phyllis/65632/#respond Wed, 20 Dec 2023 22:01:02 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=65632 Cleaning your house
While your kids are still growing
Is like shoveling the walk
Before it stops snowing.

Phyllis Diller (1917-2012) American comedian, actor, author, musician
Phyllis Diller’s Housekeeping Hints, ch. 1, epigraph (1966)
    (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/diller-phyllis/65632/feed/ 0 65632 https://wist.info/damon-bertha/65223/ https://wist.info/damon-bertha/65223/#respond Wed, 06 Dec 2023 15:04:32 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=65223 Little seedlings never flourish in the soil they have been given, be it ever so excellent, if they are continually pulled up to see if the roots are grateful yet.

Bertha Damon (1881-1975) American humorist, author, lecturer, editor [Bertha Clark Pope Damon]
Grandma Called It Carnal (1938) ]]> https://wist.info/damon-bertha/65223/feed/ 0 65223 https://wist.info/carter-hodding-2/64491/ https://wist.info/carter-hodding-2/64491/#respond Wed, 08 Nov 2023 16:39:51 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=64491 A wise woman once said to me that there are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these she said is roots, the other, wings.

Hodding Carter II (1907-1972) American journalist and author [William Hodding Carter II]
Where Main Street Meets the River, “It’s How We Like It” (1953)
    (Source)

Almost always quoted without the notes about the "wise woman," e.g.,

There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children: one of these is roots, the other, wings.

]]> https://wist.info/carter-hodding-2/64491/feed/ 0 64491 https://wist.info/bacon-francis/63903/ https://wist.info/bacon-francis/63903/#respond Wed, 18 Oct 2023 15:04:45 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=63903 Children sweeten labors; but they make misfortunes more bitter.

Francis Bacon (1561-1626) English philosopher, scientist, author, statesman
“Of Parents and Children,” Essays (1625)
    (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/bacon-francis/63903/feed/ 0 63903 https://wist.info/martin-judith/63692/ https://wist.info/martin-judith/63692/#respond Mon, 09 Oct 2023 17:35:53 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=63692 In a fit of exasperation, Miss Manners once demanded of a six-year-old person how it could be so childish and was forced to admit the justice of its reply, “I’m a child.”

Judith Martin (b. 1938) American author, journalist, etiquette expert [a.k.a. Miss Manners]
“Miss Manners,” syndicated column (1978-04-23)
    (Source)

Reprinted in Miss Manners’ Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior, Part 3 “Basic Civilization," "Concerning Children" (1983) ]]> https://wist.info/martin-judith/63692/feed/ 0 63692 https://wist.info/pratchett-terry/63311/ https://wist.info/pratchett-terry/63311/#respond Fri, 22 Sep 2023 18:38:33 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=63311 It was nice to hear the voices of little children at play, provided you took care to be far enough away not to hear what they were actually saying.

Terry Pratchett (1948-2015) English author
Discworld No. 20, Hogfather (1996)
    (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/pratchett-terry/63311/feed/ 0 63311 https://wist.info/mencken-hl/63170/ https://wist.info/mencken-hl/63170/#respond Thu, 14 Sep 2023 16:03:51 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=63170 A Sunday-school is a prison in which children do penance for the evil consciences of their parents.

H. L. Mencken (1880-1956) American writer and journalist [Henry Lewis Mencken]
A Little Book in C Major, ch. 3, § 3 (1916)
    (Source)

Variant:

SUNDAY SCHOOL. A prison in which children do penance for the evil conscience of their parents.
A Book of Burlesques, "The Jazz Webster" (1924)

]]> https://wist.info/mencken-hl/63170/feed/ 0 63170 https://wist.info/cox-marcelene/62797/ https://wist.info/cox-marcelene/62797/#respond Mon, 28 Aug 2023 16:23:23 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=62797 Parents are often so busy with the physical rearing of children that they miss the glory of parenthood, just as the grandeur of trees is lost when raking leaves.

Marcelene Cox (1900-1998) American writer, columnist, aphorist
“Ask Any Woman” column, Ladies’ Home Journal (1945-05)
    (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/cox-marcelene/62797/feed/ 0 62797 https://wist.info/cox-marcelene/62412/ https://wist.info/cox-marcelene/62412/#respond Mon, 07 Aug 2023 17:06:31 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=62412 A sparkling house is a fine thing if the children aren’t robbed of their luster in keeping it that way.

Marcelene Cox (1900-1998) American writer, columnist, aphorist
“Ask Any Woman” column, Ladies’ Home Journal (1945-11)
    (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/cox-marcelene/62412/feed/ 0 62412 https://wist.info/martin-judith/62404/ https://wist.info/martin-judith/62404/#respond Mon, 07 Aug 2023 16:41:52 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=62404 If you put together all the ingredients that naturally attract children — sex, violence, revenge, spectacle and vigorous noise — what you have is grand opera.

Judith Martin (b. 1938) American author, journalist, etiquette expert [a.k.a. Miss Manners]
Miss Manners’ Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior, Part 9 “Advanced Civilization,” “Play” (1983)
    (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/martin-judith/62404/feed/ 0 62404 https://wist.info/cox-marcelene/59596/ https://wist.info/cox-marcelene/59596/#respond Mon, 20 Mar 2023 17:20:17 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=59596 Our children await Christmas presents like politicians getting in election returns: there’s the Uncle Fred precinct and the Aunt Ruth district still to come in.

Marcelene Cox (1900-1998) American writer, columnist, aphorist
“Ask Any Woman” column, Ladies’ Home Journal (1950-12)
    (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/cox-marcelene/59596/feed/ 0 59596 https://wist.info/russell-bertrand/57878/ https://wist.info/russell-bertrand/57878/#respond Thu, 22 Dec 2022 16:36:06 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=57878 Expect of the young the very best of which they are capable, and you will get it. Expect less, and it is only too likely that you will get no more than you expect.

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
“On National Greatness,” New York American (1932-01-20)
    (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/russell-bertrand/57878/feed/ 0 57878 https://wist.info/cox-marcelene/57517/ https://wist.info/cox-marcelene/57517/#respond Mon, 05 Dec 2022 21:28:57 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=57517 Questions about the reproductive system should be answered as naturally as ones about the railroad system.

Marcelene Cox (1900-1998) American writer, columnist, aphorist
“Ask Any Woman” column, Ladies’ Home Journal (1946-02)
    (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/cox-marcelene/57517/feed/ 0 57517 https://wist.info/holland-barbara/57021/ https://wist.info/holland-barbara/57021/#respond Mon, 07 Nov 2022 22:50:55 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=57021 The thing to remember is that children are temporary. As soon as they develop a sense of humor and get to be good company, maybe even remember to take the trash out and close the refrigerator door, they pack up their electronic equipment and their clothes, and some of your clothes, and leave in a U-Haul, to return only at Thanksgiving. They were just passing through; they were always just passing through on their way to their own lives.

Barbara Holland (1933-2010) American author
One’s Company: Reflections on Living Alone, ch. 4 “Children” (1996)
    (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/holland-barbara/57021/feed/ 0 57021 https://wist.info/serling-rod/55492/ https://wist.info/serling-rod/55492/#respond Tue, 16 Aug 2022 21:09:33 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=55492 The gifts and the lessons my father left me will last forever: Never take yourself too seriously, never miss a chance to laugh long and hard, speak out about political and social issues you believe in, use the written word as often as you can to make yourself and the world a better place, and love your children with all you’ve got.

Rod Serling (1924-1975) American screenwriter, playwright, television producer, narrator
Paraphrase of Rod Serling in Anne Serling, As I Knew Him: My Dad, Rod Serling, Epilogue (2013)
    (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/serling-rod/55492/feed/ 0 55492 https://wist.info/holland-barbara/54398/ https://wist.info/holland-barbara/54398/#respond Tue, 05 Jul 2022 13:52:57 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=54398 The thousands of possible lives that used to spread out in front of me have snapped shut into one, and all I get is what I’ve got. It’s time to pass on the possibilities, all those deliciously half-open doors, to my children, and drive them to the airports, and wish them bon voyage.

Barbara Holland (1933-2010) American author
In Private LIfe, ch. 7 (1980)
    (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/holland-barbara/54398/feed/ 0 54398 https://wist.info/leguin-ursula-k/50644/ https://wist.info/leguin-ursula-k/50644/#respond Mon, 03 Jan 2022 19:09:55 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=50644 The problem of drugs, of divorce, of race prejudice, of unmarried pregnancy, and so on — as if evil were a problem, something that an be solved, that has an answer, like a problem in fifth grade arithmetic. If you want the answer, you just look in the back of the book. That is escapism, that posing evil as a “problem,” instead of what it is: all the pain and suffering and waste and loss and injustice we will meet our loves long, and must face and cope with over and over and over, and admit, and live with, in order to live human lives at all.

Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018) American writer
“The Child and the Shadow,” Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress (Apr 1975)
    (Source)

On the difficulty of "realistic fiction" for children to teach morality. First delivered as a speech; later reprinted in The Language of the Night (1979). ]]> https://wist.info/leguin-ursula-k/50644/feed/ 0 50644 https://wist.info/huxley-aldous/49746/ https://wist.info/huxley-aldous/49746/#respond Tue, 16 Nov 2021 16:53:39 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=49746 Children are remarkable for their intelligence and ardor, for their curiosity, their intolerance of shams, the clarity and ruthlessness of their vision.

Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
“Vulgarity in Literature” (1930)
    (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/huxley-aldous/49746/feed/ 0 49746 https://wist.info/atwood-margaret/47167/ https://wist.info/atwood-margaret/47167/#respond Tue, 01 Jun 2021 20:43:25 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=47167 Little girls are cute and small only to adults. To one another they are not cute. They are life-sized.

Margaret Atwood (b. 1939) Canadian writer, literary critic, environmental activist
Cat’s Eye, ch. 22 (1988)
    (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/atwood-margaret/47167/feed/ 0 47167 https://wist.info/blume-judy/46323/ https://wist.info/blume-judy/46323/#respond Fri, 26 Mar 2021 04:25:23 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=46323 I believe that censorship grows out of fear, and because fear is contagious, some parents are easily swayed. Book banning satisfies their need to feel in control of their children’s lives. This fear is often disguised as moral outrage. They want to believe that if their children don’t read about it, their children won’t know about it. And if they don’t know about it, it won’t happen.

Judy Blume (b. 1938) American writer
“Judy Blume Talks about Censorship”
    (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/blume-judy/46323/feed/ 0 46323 https://wist.info/blume-judy/46197/ https://wist.info/blume-judy/46197/#respond Thu, 11 Mar 2021 22:02:21 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=46197 Let children read whatever they want and then talk about it with them. If parents and kids can talk together, we won’t have as much censorship because we won’t have as much fear. The fear that children’s values will change because they are exposed to other values isn’t valid if there is communication between parent and child.

Judy Blume (b. 1938) American writer
“Blume Speaks Out on Speaking Out,” Interview with Barbara Karlin, Los Angeles Times (18 Oct 1981)
    (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/blume-judy/46197/feed/ 0 46197 https://wist.info/sophocles/44756/ https://wist.info/sophocles/44756/#respond Thu, 17 Dec 2020 19:08:21 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=44756 Fine, Haemon.
That’s how you ought to feel within your heart,
subordinate to your father’s will in every way.
That’s what a man prays for: to produce good sons —
a household full of them, dutiful and attentive,
so they can pay his enemy back with interest
and match the respect their father shows his friend.
But the man who rears a brood of useless children,
what has he brought into the world, I ask you?
Nothing but trouble for himself, and mockery
from his enemies laughing in his face.

[οὕτω γάρ, ὦ παῖ, χρὴ διὰ στέρνων ἔχειν,
γνώμης πατρῴας πάντ᾽ ὄπισθεν ἑστάναι.
τούτου γὰρ οὕνεκ᾽ ἄνδρες εὔχονται γονὰς
κατηκόους φύσαντες ἐν δόμοις ἔχειν,
ὡς καὶ τὸν ἐχθρὸν ἀνταμύνωνται κακοῖς
καὶ τὸν φίλον τιμῶσιν ἐξ ἴσου πατρί.
ὅστις δ᾽ ἀνωφέλητα φιτύει τέκνα,
τί τόνδ᾽ ἂν εἴποις ἄλλο πλὴν αὑτῷ πόνους
φῦσαι, πολὺν δὲ τοῖσιν ἐχθροῖσιν γέλων]

Sophocles (496-406 BC) Greek tragic playwright
Antigone, l. 639 ff (Act 3) [Creon] (441 BC) [tr. Fagles (1982), l. 712ff]
    (Source)

Original Greek. Alt. trans.:

Well spoken: so right-minded sons should feel,
In all deferring to a father's will.
For 'tis the hope of parents they may rear
A brood of sons submissive, keen to avenge
Their father's wrongs, and count his friends their own.
But who begets unprofitable sons,
He verily breeds trouble for himself,
And for his foes much laughter.
[tr. Storr (1859)]

That, O my son! should be thy constant mind,
In all to bend thee to thy father's will.
Therefore men pray to have around their hearths
Obedient offspring, to requite their foes
With harm, and honour whom their father loves;
But he whose issue proves unprofitable,
Begets what else but sorrow to himself
And store of laughter to his enemies?
[tr. Campbell (1873)]

Yes, my son, this is the spirit you should maintain in your heart -- to stand behind your father's will in all things. It is for this that men pray: to sire and raise in their homes children who are obedient, that they may requite their father's enemy with evil and honor his friend, just as their father does. But the man who begets unhelpful children -- what would you say that he has sown except miseries for himself and abundant exultation for his enemies?
[tr. Jebb (1891), l. 640ff]

Yea, this, my son, should be thy heart's fixed law, -- in all things to obey thy father's will. 'Tis for this that men pray to see dutiful children grow up around them in their homes, -- that such may requite their father's foe with evil, and honour, as their father doth, his friend. But he who begets unprofitable children -- what shall we say that he hath sown, but troubles for himself, and much triumph for his foes?
[tr. Jebb (1917)]

Good. That is the way to behave: subordinate
Everything else, my son, to your father’s will
This is what a man prays for, that he may get
Sons attentive and dutiful in his house,
Each one hating his father’s enemies,
Honoring his father’s friends. But if his sons
Fail him, if they turn out unprofitably,
What has he fathered but trouble for himself
And amusement for the malicious?
[tr. Fitts/Fitzgerald (1939), l. 503ff]

Rightly said.
Your father’s will should have your heart’s first place.
Only for this do fathers pray for sons
Obedient, loyal, ready to strike down
Their father’s foes, and love their father’s friends.
To be the father of unprofitable sons
Is to be the father of sorrows, a laughingstock
To all one’s enemies.
[tr. Watling (1947), l. 540ff]

And that’s how it should always be, my son! Everything should give way to a father’s wish because that’s why a father hopes to have many children: so that they can inflict upon his enemies whatever hard punishment they can and treat his friends with the same honour as he does. Whereas the father who brings to the world worthless children, well, how would that be different to having brought about the birth of innumerable pains and cause for his enemies to ridicule him?
[tr. Theodoridis (2004)]

Indeed, my son,
that’s how your heart should always be resolved,
to stand behind your father’s judgment
on every issue. That’s what men pray for --
obedient children growing up at home
who will pay back their father’s enemies,
evil to them for evil done to him,
while honouring his friends as much as he does.
A man who fathers useless children --
what can one say of him except he’s bred
troubles for himself, and much to laugh at
for those who fight against him?
[tr. Johnston (2005), l. 724ff]

There's a good boy. So should you hold at heart
and stand behind your father all the way.
It is for this men pray they may beget
households of dutiful obedient sons,
who share alike in punishing enemies,
and give due honor to their father's friends.
Whoever breeds a child that will not help
what has he sown but trouble for himself,
and for his enemies laughter full and free?
[tr. Wyckoff (1954)]

Yes, you should always be disposed this way in your breast, boy,
to assume your post behind your father’s judgments
in all things. For this reason, men pray to beget
and have sons in their households who listen,
that they may both repay an enemy with evils
and honor the philos equally with the father.
Whoever produces useless children,
what could you say about him except that he begets
hardship for himself and great mockery for his enemies.
[tr. Tyrell/Bennett (2002)]

]]> https://wist.info/sophocles/44756/feed/ 0 44756 https://wist.info/scott-maxwell-florida/44407/ https://wist.info/scott-maxwell-florida/44407/#respond Mon, 23 Nov 2020 17:15:05 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=44407 No matter how old a mother is, she watches her middle-aged children for signs of improvement.

Florida Scott-Maxwell (1883-1979) American-British playwright, author, psychologist
The Measure of My Days (1968)
    (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/scott-maxwell-florida/44407/feed/ 0 44407 https://wist.info/nash-ogden/44104/ https://wist.info/nash-ogden/44104/#respond Fri, 06 Nov 2020 19:48:58 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=44104 Life has a tendency to obfuscate and bewilder,

Such as fating us to spend the first part of our lives being embarrassed by our parents and the last part being embarrassed by our childer.

Ogden Nash (1902-1971) American poet
“What I Know About Life,” New Yorker (15 Jan 1949)
    (Source)

Reprinted in Versus (1949) ]]> https://wist.info/nash-ogden/44104/feed/ 0 44104 https://wist.info/nash-ogden/43834/ https://wist.info/nash-ogden/43834/#respond Fri, 23 Oct 2020 14:29:59 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=43834 FIRST …
Let the rockets flash and the cannon thunder,
This child is a marvel, a matchless wonder.
A staggering child, a child astounding,
Dazzling, diaperless, dumbfounding,
Stupendous, miraculous, unsurpassed,
A child to stagger and flabbergast,
Bright as a button, sharp as a thorn,
And the only perfect one ever born.

SECOND
Arrived this evening at half-past nine.
Everybody is doing fine.
Is it a boy, or quite the reverse?
You can call in the morning and ask the nurse.

Ogden Nash (1902-1971) American poet
“First Child … Second Child,” Versus (1949)
    (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/nash-ogden/43834/feed/ 0 43834 https://wist.info/nash-ogden/43734/ https://wist.info/nash-ogden/43734/#respond Fri, 16 Oct 2020 14:49:33 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=43734 Oh, progeny playing by itself
Is a lonely little elf,
But progeny in roistering batches
Would drive St. Francis from here to Natchez.

Ogden Nash (1902-1971) American poet
“Children’s Party,” Many Long Years Ago (1945)
    (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/nash-ogden/43734/feed/ 0 43734 https://wist.info/hart-louise/41470/ https://wist.info/hart-louise/41470/#respond Wed, 22 Apr 2020 22:59:55 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=41470 Our children give us the opportunity to become the parents we always wished we’d had.

Louise Hart (contemp.) American educator, psychologist, author, speaker
The Winning Family, ch. 1, epigraph (1987) ]]> https://wist.info/hart-louise/41470/feed/ 0 41470 https://wist.info/moody-dwight-l/38140/ https://wist.info/moody-dwight-l/38140/#respond Mon, 23 Oct 2017 23:21:52 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=38140 Depend upon it, as long as the church is living so much like the world, we cannot expect our children to be brought into the fold.

Dwight Lyman "D. L." Moody (1837-1899) American evangelist and publisher
God’s Good News, “Where Art Thou?” [Gen. 3:9] (1897)
    (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/moody-dwight-l/38140/feed/ 0 38140 https://wist.info/wolfenden-john/37838/ https://wist.info/wolfenden-john/37838/#comments Sat, 26 Aug 2017 22:39:27 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=37838 Schoolmasters and parents exist to be grown out of.

John Wolfenden (1906-1985) British educator, author
In Sunday Times (London) (13 Jul 1958) ]]> https://wist.info/wolfenden-john/37838/feed/ 2 37838 https://wist.info/greenwood-kerry/37820/ https://wist.info/greenwood-kerry/37820/#respond Fri, 25 Aug 2017 03:38:40 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=37820 Rupert had never forgiven his mother for continuing to have children once she had achieved the heights of human creation by giving birth to Rupert.

Kerry Greenwood (b. 1954) Australian author and lawyer
Phryne Fisher, Book 4, Death at Victoria Dock, ch. 8 (1992)
    (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/greenwood-kerry/37820/feed/ 0 37820 https://wist.info/kingsolver-barbara/37365/ https://wist.info/kingsolver-barbara/37365/#respond Mon, 03 Jul 2017 21:38:45 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=37365 It kills you to see them grow up. But I guess it would kill you quicker if they didn’t.

Barbara Kingsolver (b. 1955) American novelist, essayist, poet
Animal Dreams (1990) ]]> https://wist.info/kingsolver-barbara/37365/feed/ 0 37365 https://wist.info/angelou-maya/37302/ https://wist.info/angelou-maya/37302/#respond Wed, 21 Jun 2017 00:41:01 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=37302 Children’s talent to endure stems from their ignorance of alternatives.

Maya Angelou (1928-2014) American poet, memoirist, activist [b. Marguerite Ann Johnson]
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, ch. 17 (1969)
    (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/angelou-maya/37302/feed/ 0 37302 https://wist.info/lebowitz-fran/37029/ https://wist.info/lebowitz-fran/37029/#respond Mon, 22 May 2017 16:08:43 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=37029 Your responsibility as a parent is not as great as you might imagine. You need not supply the world with the next conqueror of disease or a major movie star. If your child simply grows up to be someone who does not use the word “collectible” as a noun, you can consider yourself an unqualified success.

Fran Lebowitz (b. 1950) American journalist, essayist
Social Studies, “Parental Guidance” (1981) ]]> https://wist.info/lebowitz-fran/37029/feed/ 0 37029 https://wist.info/la-follette-suzanne/36458/ https://wist.info/la-follette-suzanne/36458/#respond Mon, 13 Mar 2017 15:28:38 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=36458 When one hears the argument that marriage should be indissoluble for the sake of children, one cannot help wondering whether the protagonist is really such a firm friend of childhood.

Suzanne La Follette (1893-1983) American journalist, author, feminist
(Attributed)
    (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/la-follette-suzanne/36458/feed/ 0 36458 https://wist.info/temple-william/36434/ https://wist.info/temple-william/36434/#respond Wed, 01 Mar 2017 18:12:37 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=36434 The most influential of all educational factors is the conversation in a child’s home.

William Temple (1881-1944) English Anglican archbishop, teacher, preacher
The Hope of a New World (1940) ]]> https://wist.info/temple-william/36434/feed/ 0 36434 https://wist.info/stevenson-robert-louis/36213/ https://wist.info/stevenson-robert-louis/36213/#respond Tue, 07 Feb 2017 17:45:00 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=36213 And perhaps, after all, it is better that the lad should break his neck than that you should break his spirit.

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
The Amateur Emigrant (1880) ]]> https://wist.info/stevenson-robert-louis/36213/feed/ 0 36213 https://wist.info/silverstein-shel/36160/ https://wist.info/silverstein-shel/36160/#respond Tue, 31 Jan 2017 16:00:05 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=36160 Listen to the MUSTN’Ts, child,
Listen to the DON’Ts
Listen to the SHOULDN’Ts
The IMPOSSIBLES, the WON’Ts
Listen to the NEVER HAVEs
Then listen close to me —
Anything can happen, child,
ANYTHING can be.

Shel Silverstein (1930-1999) American poet, singer-songwriter, cartoonist, children's author
“Listen To The Mustn’ts,” Where the Sidewalk Ends (1974) ]]> https://wist.info/silverstein-shel/36160/feed/ 0 36160 https://wist.info/johnson-samuel/36119/ https://wist.info/johnson-samuel/36119/#respond Thu, 26 Jan 2017 16:26:55 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=36119 I am always for getting a boy forward in his learning; for that is a sure good. I would let him at first read any English book which happens to engage his attention; because you have done a great deal when you have brought him to have entertainment from a book. He’ll get better books afterwards.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson “16 April 1779” (1791) ]]> https://wist.info/johnson-samuel/36119/feed/ 0 36119 https://wist.info/onassis-jacqueline-kennedy/35970/ https://wist.info/onassis-jacqueline-kennedy/35970/#respond Tue, 17 Jan 2017 22:51:14 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=35970 If you bungle raising your children I don’t think whatever else you do well matters very much.

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1929-1994) First Lady of the United States (1961-1963), book editor, celebrity
Interview with Sander Vanocur, NBC News (1 Oct 1960)
    (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/onassis-jacqueline-kennedy/35970/feed/ 0 35970 https://wist.info/kittredge-a-e/35896/ https://wist.info/kittredge-a-e/35896/#respond Wed, 04 Jan 2017 05:26:15 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=35896 I never hear parents exclaim impatiently, “Children, you must not make so much noise,” that I do not think how soon the time may come when those parents would give all the world, could they hear once more the ringing laughter which once so disturbed them.

Abbott Eliot "A. E." Kittredge (1834-1912) American clergyman and Presbyterian leader
(Attributed)

Quoted in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895). ]]> https://wist.info/kittredge-a-e/35896/feed/ 0 35896 https://wist.info/king-stoddard/35734/ https://wist.info/king-stoddard/35734/#respond Wed, 07 Dec 2016 04:13:25 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=35734 Of all the pestilences dire,
Including famine, flood, and fire;
By Satan and his imps rehearsed,
The neighbors’ children are the worst.

Stoddard King (1889-1933) American author and songwriter
“Philosophy for Parents” ]]> https://wist.info/king-stoddard/35734/feed/ 0 35734 https://wist.info/montaigne-michel-de/35686/ https://wist.info/montaigne-michel-de/35686/#respond Wed, 30 Nov 2016 03:46:00 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=35686 We should note that games are not games for children but are to be judged as the most serious things they do.

[De vray il faut noter, que les jeux des enfants ne sont pas jeux: & les faut juger en eux, comme leurs plus serieuses actions.]

Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 1, ch. 23 (1.23), “Of Custom and Not Easily Changing an Accepted Law [De la Coustume et de Ne Changer Aisément une Loy Receüe]” (1572) [tr. Screech (1987)]
    (Source)

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

For truely it is to bee noted, that Childrens playes are not sports, and should be deemed as their most serious actions.
[tr. Florio (1603), ch. 22]

As it must be noted, that the plays of children are not in jest, but must be judged of as their most serious actions.
[tr. Cotton (1686)]

Indeed, it is to be noted, that the plays of children are not performed in play, but are to be judged in them as their most serious actions.
[tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877), ch. 22]

We must take note that the games of children are not games in their eyes; and we must regard these as their most serious actions.
[E.g. (1884)]

Indeed, it should be noted that the games of children are not games, and must be judged as their most serious acts.
[tr. Ives (1925), ch. 23]

Indeed it must be noted that children’s games are not games, and must be judged in children like their more serious actions.
[tr. Frame (1943), ch. 23]

]]> https://wist.info/montaigne-michel-de/35686/feed/ 0 35686 https://wist.info/spurgeon-charles/35642/ https://wist.info/spurgeon-charles/35642/#respond Wed, 23 Nov 2016 05:02:17 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=35642 Children will imitate their fathers in their vices, seldom in their repentance.

Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892) British Baptist preacher, author [Charles Haddon (C.H.) Spurgeon]
Spurgeon’s Sermons, 3rd Series, Sermon 21, “Manasseh” (1883)
    (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/spurgeon-charles/35642/feed/ 0 35642 https://wist.info/longfellow-henry-wadsworth/35629/ https://wist.info/longfellow-henry-wadsworth/35629/#respond Tue, 22 Nov 2016 06:15:46 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=35629 A torn jacket is soon mended; but hard words bruise the heart of a child.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) American poet
“Table-Talk,” Drift-wood (1857)
    (Source)

See Howell (1659). ]]> https://wist.info/longfellow-henry-wadsworth/35629/feed/ 0 35629 https://wist.info/inge-william-ralph/35570/ https://wist.info/inge-william-ralph/35570/#respond Wed, 09 Nov 2016 05:04:05 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=35570 The proper time to influence the character of a child is about a hundred years before he is born.

William Ralph Inge (1860-1954) English prelate [Dean Inge]
More Lay Thoughts of a Dean (1931) ]]> https://wist.info/inge-william-ralph/35570/feed/ 0 35570 https://wist.info/howe-edgar-watson/35523/ https://wist.info/howe-edgar-watson/35523/#respond Wed, 02 Nov 2016 03:25:35 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=35523 Don’t take up a man’s time talking about the smartness of your children; he wants to talk to you about the smartness of his children.

Edgar Watson "Ed" Howe (1853-1937) American journalist and author [E. W. Howe]
Country Town Sayings (1911) ]]> https://wist.info/howe-edgar-watson/35523/feed/ 0 35523 https://wist.info/heinlein-robert-a/35480/ https://wist.info/heinlein-robert-a/35480/#respond Wed, 26 Oct 2016 04:02:02 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=35480 Delusions are often functional. A mother’s opinions about her children’s beauty, intelligence, goodness, et cetera ad nauseam, keep her from drowning them at birth.

Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) American writer
Time Enough for Love (1973) ]]> https://wist.info/heinlein-robert-a/35480/feed/ 0 35480 https://wist.info/haliburton-thomas-chandler/35427/ https://wist.info/haliburton-thomas-chandler/35427/#respond Wed, 19 Oct 2016 05:17:27 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=35427 Wherever there is authority, there is a natural inclination to disobedience.

Thomas Chandler Haliburton (1796-1865) Canadian politician, judge, humorist
Sam Slick’s Wise Saws and Modern Instances (1853) ]]> https://wist.info/haliburton-thomas-chandler/35427/feed/ 0 35427 https://wist.info/gibran-kahlil/35352/ https://wist.info/gibran-kahlil/35352/#respond Wed, 12 Oct 2016 02:46:52 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=35352 Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931) Lebanese-American poet, writer, painter [Gibran Khalil Gibran]
“On Children,” The Prophet (1923)
    (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/gibran-kahlil/35352/feed/ 0 35352 https://wist.info/fuller-thomas-1654/35296/ https://wist.info/fuller-thomas-1654/35296/#respond Wed, 05 Oct 2016 00:52:36 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=35296 There is not so much Comfort in the having of Children as there is Sorrow in parting with them.

Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs (compiler), # 4932 (1732)
    (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/fuller-thomas-1654/35296/feed/ 0 35296 https://wist.info/quarles-francis/35166/ https://wist.info/quarles-francis/35166/#respond Thu, 22 Sep 2016 00:30:51 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=35166 If thou desire to see thy child virtuous, let him not see his father’s vices: thou canst not rebuke that in them, that they behold practiced in thee; till reason be ripe, examples direct more than precepts: such as thy behaviour is before thy children’s faces, such commonly is theirs behind their parents’ backs.

Francis Quarles (1592-1644) English poet
Enchyridion, Century 3, cap. 18
    (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/quarles-francis/35166/feed/ 0 35166 https://wist.info/darrow-clarence/35155/ https://wist.info/darrow-clarence/35155/#respond Wed, 21 Sep 2016 00:13:03 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=35155 The first half of our lives is ruined by our parents and the second half by our children.

Clarence Darrow (1857-1938) American lawyer
(Attributed) ]]> https://wist.info/darrow-clarence/35155/feed/ 0 35155 https://wist.info/casals-pablo/35079/ https://wist.info/casals-pablo/35079/#respond Wed, 14 Sep 2016 00:31:49 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=35079 Each second we live is a new and unique moment of the universe, a moment that will never be again. And what do we teach our children in school? We teach them that two and two make four and that Paris is the capital of France. When will we also teach them what they are? We should say to them: Do you know what you are? You are a marvel. You are unique. In all the years that have passed, there has never been another child like you. And look at your body — what a wonder it is! Your legs, your arms, your clever fingers, the ways you move. You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything. Yes, you are a marvel. And when you grow up, can you then harm another who is, like you, a marvel? You must work — we must all work — to make the world worthy of its children.

Pablo Casals (1876-1973) Spanish cellist, conductor, composer
In Joys and Sorrows: Reflections‎ by Pablo Casals as told to Albert E. Kahn (1970) ]]> https://wist.info/casals-pablo/35079/feed/ 0 35079 https://wist.info/buxton-charles/35002/ https://wist.info/buxton-charles/35002/#respond Wed, 07 Sep 2016 01:39:35 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=35002 The first duty towards children is to make them happy. If you have not made them happy, you have wronged them. No other good they may get can make up for that.

Charles Buxton (1823-1871) English brewer, philanthropist, writer, politician
Notes of Thought (1873) ]]> https://wist.info/buxton-charles/35002/feed/ 0 35002 https://wist.info/brown-h-jackson/34939/ https://wist.info/brown-h-jackson/34939/#respond Wed, 31 Aug 2016 02:25:55 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=34939 Remember that children, marriages, and flower gardens reflect the kind of care they get.

H. Jackson "Jack" Brown, Jr. (b. 1940) American writer
Life’s Instructions for Wisdom, Success, and Happiness (2001) ]]> https://wist.info/brown-h-jackson/34939/feed/ 0 34939 https://wist.info/benchley-robert/34876/ https://wist.info/benchley-robert/34876/#respond Wed, 24 Aug 2016 00:19:29 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=34876 In America there are two classes of travel — first class, and with children. Traveling with children corresponds roughly to traveling third class in Bulgaria.

Robert Benchley (1889-1945) American humorist, columnist, actor, wit
Pluck and Luck (1925) ]]> https://wist.info/benchley-robert/34876/feed/ 0 34876 https://wist.info/king-stephen/34798/ https://wist.info/king-stephen/34798/#respond Thu, 18 Aug 2016 00:27:46 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=34798 Has it ever occurred to you … that parents are nothing but overgrown kids until their children drag them into adulthood? Usually kicking and screaming?

Stephen King (b. 1947) American author
Christine, Part 1, ch. 3 (1983) ]]> https://wist.info/king-stephen/34798/feed/ 0 34798 https://wist.info/buchwald-art/34204/ https://wist.info/buchwald-art/34204/#respond Mon, 13 Jun 2016 14:53:01 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=34204 There isn’t a child who hasn’t gone out into the brave new world who eventually doesn’t return to the old homestead carrying a bundle of dirty clothes.

Art Buchwald (1925-2007) American humorist, columnist
Syndicated column (11 Sep 1983)
    (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/buchwald-art/34204/feed/ 0 34204 https://wist.info/kennedy-john/34015/ https://wist.info/kennedy-john/34015/#respond Wed, 01 Jun 2016 17:20:43 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=34015 A child miseducated is a child lost.

John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) American politician, author, journalist, US President (1961–63)
State of the Union address (1962-01-11)

This quotation is usually attributed to Kennedy's 1963 State of the Union Address, but it does not show up in the formal text or the video recording.

It actually appears to be from his 1962 State of the Union address; while it does not appear in the text or the audio recording, it does show up in a copy in Vital Speeches and Documents of the Day, Vol. 2 (1961). There are other small textual changes to the speech in that version, which may reflect a press release version before or after the actual speech. ]]> https://wist.info/kennedy-john/34015/feed/ 0 34015 https://wist.info/lebowitz-fran/33019/ https://wist.info/lebowitz-fran/33019/#respond Wed, 16 Mar 2016 13:31:52 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=33019 Notoriously insensitive to subtle shifts in mood, children will persist in discussing the color of a recently sighted cement-mixer long after one’s interest in the topic has waned.

Fran Lebowitz (b. 1950) American journalist, essayist
“Children: Pro or Con,” Metropolitan Life (1978)
    (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/lebowitz-fran/33019/feed/ 0 33019 https://wist.info/de-stael-germaine/32921/ https://wist.info/de-stael-germaine/32921/#respond Tue, 08 Mar 2016 14:31:38 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=32921 The rules are only barriers to keep children from falling.

[Ces règles ne sont que des barrières pour empêcher les enfants de tomber.]

Germaine de Staël (1766-1817) Swiss-French writer, woman of letters, critic, salonist [Anne Louise Germaine de Staël-Holstein, Madame de Staël, Madame Necker]
Germany [De l’Allemagne], Part 4, ch. 9 (1813) ]]> https://wist.info/de-stael-germaine/32921/feed/ 0 32921 https://wist.info/ingersoll-robert-green/32386/ https://wist.info/ingersoll-robert-green/32386/#respond Tue, 02 Feb 2016 17:21:15 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=32386 And why does this same God tell me how to raise my children when he had to drown his?

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Some Mistakes of Moses, Sec. 18 “Dampness” (1879)
    (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/ingersoll-robert-green/32386/feed/ 0 32386 https://wist.info/huxley-aldous/32148/ https://wist.info/huxley-aldous/32148/#respond Wed, 13 Jan 2016 14:14:24 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=32148 Little boys may be an intolerable nuisance; but when they are not there we regret them, we find ourselves homesick for their very intolerableness.

Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
Beyond the Mexique Bay (1934) ]]> https://wist.info/huxley-aldous/32148/feed/ 0 32148 https://wist.info/carroll-lewis/32003/ https://wist.info/carroll-lewis/32003/#respond Wed, 30 Dec 2015 17:17:20 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=32003 I am fond of children (except boys).

Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) English writer and mathematician [pseud. of Rev. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson]
Letter to Kathleen Eschwege (24 Oct 1879) ]]> https://wist.info/carroll-lewis/32003/feed/ 0 32003 https://wist.info/howe-edgar-watson/31956/ https://wist.info/howe-edgar-watson/31956/#respond Wed, 23 Dec 2015 19:00:35 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=31956 Don’t take up a man’s time talking about the smartness of your children; he wants to talk to you about the smartness of his children.

Edgar Watson "Ed" Howe (1853-1937) American journalist and author [E. W. Howe]
Country Town Sayings (1911) ]]> https://wist.info/howe-edgar-watson/31956/feed/ 0 31956 https://wist.info/richardson-james/30913/ https://wist.info/richardson-james/30913/#respond Fri, 02 Oct 2015 13:08:30 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=30913 What you fear to believe, your children will believe.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays, #340 (2001) ]]> https://wist.info/richardson-james/30913/feed/ 0 30913 https://wist.info/kerr-jean/30453/ https://wist.info/kerr-jean/30453/#respond Mon, 31 Aug 2015 12:29:32 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=30453 Children are different — mentally, physically, spiritually, quantitatively, qualitatively; and furthermore, they’re all a little bit nuts.

Jean Kerr (1922-2003) American author and playwright [b. Bridget Jean Collins]
Essay (1957-07-27), “Children Really Are Not People,” Saturday Evening Post
    (Source)

Collected as "Where Did You Put the Aspirin?" in Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1957). ]]> https://wist.info/kerr-jean/30453/feed/ 0 30453 https://wist.info/kerr-jean/30313/ https://wist.info/kerr-jean/30313/#respond Mon, 24 Aug 2015 14:27:41 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=30313 The real menace in dealing with a five-year-old is that in no time at all you begin to sound like a five-year-old.

Jean Kerr (1922-2003) American author and playwright [b. Bridget Jean Collins]
Essay (1957), “How to Get the Best of Your Children,” Please Don’t Eat the Daisies
    (Source)

Original magazine publication unknown. ]]> https://wist.info/kerr-jean/30313/feed/ 0 30313 https://wist.info/pratchett-terry/29918/ https://wist.info/pratchett-terry/29918/#comments Wed, 15 Jul 2015 17:58:51 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=29918 [I]t was followed by a long scream of rage mixed with a roar of complaint: “AAaargwannawannaaaagongongonaargggaaaaBLOON!” which is the traditional sound of a very small child learning that with balloons, as with life itself, it is important to know when not to let go of the string. The whole point of balloons is to teach small children this.

Terry Pratchett (1948-2015) English author
Discworld No. 32, A Hat Full of Sky, ch. 11 “Arthur” (2004)
    (Source)

This is apparently the origin of the much more frequently found paraphrase:

There are times in life when people must know when not to let go. Balloons are designed to teach small children this.

This shorter form has been used, among other places, in a Change.org petition to Death to reinstate Pratchett after the author's passing. It is possible Pratchett may have used it somewhere else, but I am unable to find it (it does not show up in the alt.fan.pratchett board in any message from him).

See also Cox. ]]> https://wist.info/pratchett-terry/29918/feed/ 1 29918 https://wist.info/eisenhower-dwight/29870/ https://wist.info/eisenhower-dwight/29870/#respond Thu, 09 Jul 2015 19:32:50 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=29870 Teachers need our active support and encouragement. They are doing one of the most necessary and exacting jobs in the land. They are developing our most precious national resource: our children, our future citizens.

Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969) American general, US President (1953-61)
Speech, Centennial Celebration Banquet, National Education Association (4 Apr 1957) ]]> https://wist.info/eisenhower-dwight/29870/feed/ 0 29870 https://wist.info/barrie-james/28114/ https://wist.info/barrie-james/28114/#respond Fri, 23 Jan 2015 19:30:51 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=28114 PETER: (baldly) You see, Wendy, when the first baby laughed for the first time, the laugh broke into a thousand pieces and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies. And now when every new baby is born its first laugh becomes a fairy. So there ought to be one fairy for every boy or girl.

WENDY (breathlessly). Ought to be? Isn’t there?

PETER. Oh no. Children know such a lot now. Soon they don’t believe in fairies, and every time a child says ‘I don’t believe in fairies’ there is a fairy somewhere that falls down dead. (He skips about heartlessly.)

J. M. Barrie (1860-1937) Scottish novelist and dramatist [James Matthew Barrie]
Peter Pan, Act 1 (1904, pub. 1928)
    (Source)

In Barrie's novelization, Peter and Wendy, ch. 3 "Come Away, Come Away!" (1911), this is rendered:

“You see, Wendy, when the first baby laughed for the first time, its laugh broke into a thousand pieces, and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies.”
Tedious talk this, but being a stay-at-home she liked it.
“And so,” he went on good-naturedly, “there ought to be one fairy for every boy and girl.”
“Ought to be? Isn’t there?”
“No. You see children know such a lot now, they soon don’t believe in fairies, and every time a child says, ‘I don’t believe in fairies,’ there is a fairy somewhere that falls down dead.”

]]> https://wist.info/barrie-james/28114/feed/ 0 28114 https://wist.info/keillor-garrison/27995/ https://wist.info/keillor-garrison/27995/#respond Thu, 15 Jan 2015 13:06:39 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=27995 Girls … were allowed to play in the house … and boys were sent outdoors. … Boys ran around in the yard with toy guns going kksshh-kksshh, fighting wars for made-up reasons and arguing about who was dead, while girls stayed inside and played with dolls, creating complex family groups and learning how to solve problems through negotiation and roleplaying. Which gender is better equipped, on the whole, to live an adult life, would you guess?

Garrison Keillor (b. 1942) American entertainer, author
The Book of Guys (1993) ]]> https://wist.info/keillor-garrison/27995/feed/ 0 27995 https://wist.info/whedon-joss/27922/ https://wist.info/whedon-joss/27922/#respond Thu, 08 Jan 2015 13:55:28 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=27922 I think there’s a lot of people out there who say we must not have horror in any form, we must not say scary things to children because it will make them evil and disturbed. … That offends me deeply, because the world is a scary and horrifying place, and everyone’s going to get old and die, if they’re that lucky. To set children up to think that everything is sunshine and roses is doing them a great disservice. Children need horror because there are things they don’t understand. It helps them to codify it if it is mythologized, if it’s put into the context of a story, whether the story has a happy ending or not. If it scares them and shows them a little bit of the dark side of the world that is there and always will be, it’s helping them out when they have to face it as adults.

Joss Whedon (b. 1964) American screenwriter, author, producer [Joseph Hill Whedon]
Interview with Michael Silverberg (NPR)
    (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/whedon-joss/27922/feed/ 0 27922 https://wist.info/keillor-garrison/27277/ https://wist.info/keillor-garrison/27277/#respond Thu, 23 Oct 2014 12:41:31 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=27277 Nothing you do for children is ever wasted. They seem not to notice us, hovering, averting our eyes, and they seldom offer thanks, but what we do for them is never wasted.

Garrison Keillor (b. 1942) American entertainer, author
“Easter,” Leaving Home (1987)
    (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/keillor-garrison/27277/feed/ 0 27277 https://wist.info/keillor-garrison/27192/ https://wist.info/keillor-garrison/27192/#respond Thu, 16 Oct 2014 12:05:13 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=27192 Selective ignorance, a cornerstone of child rearing. You don’t put kids under surveillance: it might frighten you. Parents should sit tall in the saddle and look upon their troops with a noble and benevolent and extremely nearsighted gaze.

Garrison Keillor (b. 1942) American entertainer, author
Leaving Home? (1987) ]]> https://wist.info/keillor-garrison/27192/feed/ 0 27192 https://wist.info/lorimer-george-horace/26139/ https://wist.info/lorimer-george-horace/26139/#respond Tue, 22 Jul 2014 12:44:21 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=26139 It’s been my experience that when an office begins to look like a family tree, you’ll find worms tucked away snug and cheerful in most of the apples.

George Horace Lorimer (1867-1937) American journalist, author, magazine editor
Old Gorgon Graham: More Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His Son, ch. 1 (1903)
    (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/lorimer-george-horace/26139/feed/ 0 26139 https://wist.info/butcher-jim/26030/ https://wist.info/butcher-jim/26030/#respond Tue, 15 Jul 2014 12:42:01 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=26030 There’s more magic in a baby’s first giggle than in any firestorm a wizard can conjure up, and don’t let anyone tell you any different.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Fool Moon (2001) ]]> https://wist.info/butcher-jim/26030/feed/ 0 26030 https://wist.info/butcher-jim/25697/ https://wist.info/butcher-jim/25697/#respond Tue, 10 Jun 2014 12:03:00 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=25697 Kids. You gotta love them. I adore children. A little salt, a squeeze of lemon — perfect.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Storm Front (2000) ]]> https://wist.info/butcher-jim/25697/feed/ 0 25697 https://wist.info/vauvenargues-luc-de/23111/ https://wist.info/vauvenargues-luc-de/23111/#respond Thu, 05 Dec 2013 14:36:28 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=23111 If children had teachers for judgment and eloquence as they have for languages, if their memory was exercised less than their energy or their natural genius, if instead of deadening their vivacity of mind we tried to elevate the free scope and impulses of their souls, what might not result from a fine disposition? As it is, we forget that courage, or love of truth and glory are the virtues that matter most in youth; and our one endeavor is to subdue our children’s spirits, in order to teach them that dependence and suppleness are the first laws of success in life.

Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues (1715-1747) French moralist, essayist, soldier
Reflections and Maxims [Réflexions et maximes] (1746) [tr. Lee (1903)] ]]> https://wist.info/vauvenargues-luc-de/23111/feed/ 0 23111 https://wist.info/johnson-lyndon/21793/ https://wist.info/johnson-lyndon/21793/#respond Wed, 31 Jul 2013 17:29:13 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=21793 I taught school in the early days of my manhood and I think I know something about mothers. There is a thread of aspiration that runs strong in them. It is the fiber that has formed the most unselfish creatures who inhabit this earth. They want three things only; for their children to be fed, to be healthy, and to make the most of themselves.

Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Speech (1963-07-09), Women’s Meeting, Washington, D.C.

I have been unable to find a source for this quotation. ]]> https://wist.info/johnson-lyndon/21793/feed/ 0 21793 https://wist.info/forbes-malcolm/19076/ https://wist.info/forbes-malcolm/19076/#respond Wed, 12 Sep 2012 15:22:37 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=19076 The difference between men and boys
Is the price of their toys.

Malcolm Forbes (1919-1990) American billionaire
The Sayings of Chairman Malcolm, “Simple Truths” (1978)

Also attributed to Liberace, J. T. Russell, Joyce Brothers, Mark Twain, Doris Rowland, and Dorothy Parker. The phrase can be found in this form in Millard Dale Baughman, Educator's Handbook of Stories, Quotes and Humor (1963), and in 1964 Senate testimony.

For a likely predecessor, see Franklin. ]]> https://wist.info/forbes-malcolm/19076/feed/ 0 19076 https://wist.info/roosevelt-theodore/18528/ https://wist.info/roosevelt-theodore/18528/#respond Tue, 17 Jul 2012 12:21:26 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=18528 There are many kinds of success in life worth having. It is exceedingly interesting and attractive to be a successful business man, or railroad man, or farmer, or a successful lawyer or doctor; or a writer, or a President, or a ranchman, or the colonel of a fighting regiment, or to kill grizzly bears and lions. But for unflagging interest and enjoyment, a household of children, if things go reasonably well, certainly makes all other forms of success and achievement lose their importance by comparison.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901–1909)
Autobiography, ch. 9 “Outdoors and Indoors” (1913)
    (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/roosevelt-theodore/18528/feed/ 0 18528 https://wist.info/berry-wendell/17860/ https://wist.info/berry-wendell/17860/#respond Wed, 02 May 2012 14:48:12 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=17860 It is useless to try to adjudicate a long-standing animosity by asking who started it or who is the most wrong. The only sufficient answer is to give up the animosity and try forgiveness, to try to love our enemies and to talk to them and (if we pray) to pray for them. If we can’t do any of that, then we must begin again by trying to imagine our enemies’ children who, like our children, are in mortal danger because of enmity that they did not cause.

Wendell Berry (b. 1934) American farmer, educator, poet, conservationist
Essay (2003-02-09), “A Citizen’s Response,” sec. 4, Citizenship Papers (2003)
    (Source)

The essay, including this passage, was also published in a longer form in Orion Magazine (2003-03/04), and collected in his Citizenship Papers (2003). ]]> https://wist.info/berry-wendell/17860/feed/ 0 17860 https://wist.info/orwell-george/16979/ https://wist.info/orwell-george/16979/#respond Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:10:44 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=16979 There are families in which the father will say to his child, “You’ll get a thick ear if you do that again,” while the mother, her eyes brimming over with tears, will take the child to her arms and murmur lovingly, “Now, darling, is it kind to Mummy to do that?” And who would maintain that the second method is less tyrannous than the first?

George Orwell (1903-1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1947-03), “Lear, Tolstoy and the Fool,” Polemic Magazine, No. 7
    (Source)

Collected in Inside the Whale, and Other Essays (1962). ]]> https://wist.info/orwell-george/16979/feed/ 0 16979 https://wist.info/beauvoir-simone-de/16710/ https://wist.info/beauvoir-simone-de/16710/#respond Tue, 27 Dec 2011 15:21:36 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=16710 It’s frightening to think that you mark your children merely by being yourself.

Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986) French author, existentialist philosopher, feminist theorist
Les Belles Images, ch. 3 (1966) [tr. O’Brian (1968)] ]]> https://wist.info/beauvoir-simone-de/16710/feed/ 0 16710 https://wist.info/schopenhauer-arthur/13965/ https://wist.info/schopenhauer-arthur/13965/#comments Tue, 22 Feb 2011 15:45:51 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=13965 There is no absurdity, however palpable, which cannot be firmly implanted in the minds of all, if only one begins to inculcate it before the early age of six by constantly repeating it to them with an air of great solemnity.

[Es giebt keine Absurdität , die so handgreiflich wäre , daß man sie nicht allen Menden fest in den Kopf regen könnte, wenn man nur schon vor ihrem sechsten Jahre anfienge, sie ihnen einzuprägen, indem manunabläffig und mit feierlichstem Ernst sie ihnen vorsagte.]

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) German philosopher
Parerga and Paralipomena, Vol. 2, ch. 26 “Psychological Observations [Psychologische Bemerkungen],” § 344 (1851) [tr. Payne (1974)]
    (Source)

(Source (German)). Alternate translations:

There is no absurdity so palpable but that it may be firmly planted in the human head if you only begin to inculcate it before the age of five, by constantly repeating it with an air of great solemnity.
[tr. Saunders (1851)]

There is no absurdity, however palpable it may be, which may not be fixed in the minds of all men, if it is inculcated before they are six years old by continual and earnest repetition.
[tr. Dircks(1897)]

]]> https://wist.info/schopenhauer-arthur/13965/feed/ 1 13965 https://wist.info/aristotle/13573/ https://wist.info/aristotle/13573/#respond Mon, 17 Jan 2011 14:51:43 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=13573 Therefore it is fitting for the women to be married at about the age of eighteen and the men at thirty-seven or a little before — for that will give long enough for the union to take place with their bodily vigor at its prime, and for it to arrive with a convenient coincidence of dates at the time when procreation ceases. Moreover the succession of the children to the estates, if their birth duly occurs soon after the parents marry, will take place when they are beginning their prime, and when the parents’ period of vigor has now come to a close, towards the age of seventy.

Aristotle (384-322 BC) Greek philosopher
Politics [Πολιτικά], Book 7, ch. 16 / 1335a.27 [tr. Rackham (1932)]
    (Source)

Alt. trans.:

And so it is best to unite women of about eighteen years of age and men of thirty-seven or less; for by such an arrangement the union will be during their greatest physical perfection, and will, as the years pass reach the limit of child-begetting at the right time. Again, the succession of children will be secured, as the younger generation will be having children at the beginning of their prime, supposing some to be born at once, as we may expect, and as the right age has passed away from the older generation as they approach the limit of seventy years.
[tr. Bolland (1877)]

Women should marry when they are about eighteen years of age, and men at seven and thirty; then they are in the prime of life, and the decline in the powers of both will coincide. Further, the children, if their birth takes place soon, as may reasonably be expected, will succeed in the beginning of their prime, when the fathers are already in the decline of life, and have nearly reached their term of three-score years and ten.
[tr. Jowett (1885)]

For which reason the proper time for a woman to marry is eighteen, for a man thirty-seven, a little more or less; for when they marry at that time their bodies are in perfection, and they will also cease to have children at a proper time; and moreover with respect to the succession of the children, if they have them at the time which may reasonably be expected, they will be just arriving into perfection when their parents are sinking down under the load of seventy years.
[tr. Ellis (1912)]

Hence it is fitting for women to unite in marriage around the age of eighteen, and for men at thirty-seven or a little before. At such an age, union will occur when their bodies are in their prime, and will arrive at its conclusion conveniently for both of them with respect to the cessation of procreation. Further, the succession of the offspring -- if birth occurs shortly after marriage, as can reasonably be expected -- will be for them at the beginning of their prime, while for the fathers it will be when their age has already run its course toward the seventieth year.
[tr. Lord (1984)]

]]> https://wist.info/aristotle/13573/feed/ 0 13573 https://wist.info/bacon-francis/12086/ https://wist.info/bacon-francis/12086/#respond Fri, 10 Sep 2010 12:27:52 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=12086 Croesus said to Cambyses: That peace was better than war; because in peace the sons did bury their fathers, but in wars the fathers did bury their sons.

Francis Bacon (1561-1626) English philosopher, scientist, author, statesman
Apophthegms, #149 (1625)

See Herodotus. ]]> https://wist.info/bacon-francis/12086/feed/ 0 12086 https://wist.info/barrie-james/11952/ https://wist.info/barrie-james/11952/#respond Thu, 26 Aug 2010 15:49:17 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=11952 Wise children always choose a mother who was a shocking flirt in her maiden days, and so had several offers before she accepted their fortunate papa.

J. M. Barrie (1860-1937) Scottish novelist and dramatist [James Matthew Barrie]
The Little White Bird, ch. 19 “Joey,” Scribner’s Magazine, Vol. 32 (1902-11)
    (Source)

This portion of the serial is in ch. 22 of the fully collected novel (1902). ]]> https://wist.info/barrie-james/11952/feed/ 0 11952 https://wist.info/quindlen-anna/10605/ https://wist.info/quindlen-anna/10605/#respond Fri, 16 Apr 2010 13:01:35 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=10605 If being a parent consists often of passing along chunks of ourselves to unwitting — often unwilling — recipients, then books are, for me, one of the simplest and most sure-fire ways of doing that. I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.

Anna Quindlen (b. 1953) American journalist, novelist
Article (1991-08-07), “Public & Private: Enough Bookshelves,” New York Times
    (Source)

Reprinted in her essay collection Thinking Out Loud (1993). ]]> https://wist.info/quindlen-anna/10605/feed/ 0 10605 https://wist.info/gaiman-neil/9988/ https://wist.info/gaiman-neil/9988/#comments Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:41:26 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=9988 DREAM: It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes. But the half-wit remains a half-wit, and the emperor remains an emperor.

Neil Gaiman (b. 1960) British author, screenwriter, fabulist
Sandman, Book 9. The Kindly Ones, # 60 “The Kindly Ones: 4” (1994-06)
    (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/gaiman-neil/9988/feed/ 1 9988 https://wist.info/twain-mark/9825/ https://wist.info/twain-mark/9825/#respond Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:35:55 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=9825 Familiarity breeds contempt — and children.

Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Mark Twain’s Notebook (1894-02-02) [ed. Paine (1935)]
    (Source)

See Apuleius. ]]> https://wist.info/twain-mark/9825/feed/ 0 9825 https://wist.info/ingersoll-robert-green/6334/ https://wist.info/ingersoll-robert-green/6334/#respond Thu, 25 Sep 2008 10:43:45 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=6334 It is far more important to love your wife than to love God, and I will tell you why. You cannot help him, but you can help her. You can fill her life with the perfume of perpetual joy. It is far more important that you love your children than that you love Jesus Christ. And why? If he is God you cannot help him, but you can plant a little flower of happiness in every footstep of the child, from the cradle until you die in that child’s arms. Let me tell you to-day it is far more important to build a home than to erect a church. The holiest temple beneath the stars is a home that love has built. And the holiest altar in all the wide world is the fireside around which gather father and mother and the sweet babes.

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
“What Must We Do to Be Saved?” Sec. 2 (1880) ]]> https://wist.info/ingersoll-robert-green/6334/feed/ 0 6334 https://wist.info/nash-ogden/5400/ https://wist.info/nash-ogden/5400/#respond Fri, 26 Oct 2007 10:10:02 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=5400 Oh, what a tangled web do parents weave
When they think that their children are naive.

Ogden Nash (1902-1971) American poet
“Baby, What Makes the Sky Blue?” ll. 1-2, New Yorker (1940-01-20)
    (Source)

Collected in his The Face Is Familiar (1941). ]]> https://wist.info/nash-ogden/5400/feed/ 0 5400 https://wist.info/leguin-ursula-k/5386/ https://wist.info/leguin-ursula-k/5386/#respond Fri, 19 Oct 2007 20:24:58 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=5386 Sure it’s simple, writing for kids. Just as simple as bringing them up. All you do is take all the sex out, and use little short words, and little dumb ideas, and don’t be too scary and be sure there’s a happy ending. Right? Nothing to it. Write down. Right on. If you do all that you might even write Jonathan Livingstone Seagull and make twenty million dollars and have every adult in America reading your book.
But you won’t have every kid in America reading your book. They will look at it, with their clear, cold, beady little eyes, and they will put it down, and they will go away. Kids will devour vast amounts of garbage (and it is good for them) but they are not like adults; they have not yet learned to eat plastic.

Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018) American writer
“Dreams Must Explain Themselves” (1973) ]]> https://wist.info/leguin-ursula-k/5386/feed/ 0 5386 https://wist.info/cosby-bill/462/ https://wist.info/cosby-bill/462/#respond Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=462 The childless experts on child raising also bring tears of laughter to my eyes when they say, “I love children because they’re so honest.” There is not an agent in the CIA or the KGB who knows how to conceal the theft of food, how to fake being asleep, or how to forge a parent’s signature like a child.

Bill Cosby (b. 1937) American comedian
Fatherhood, ch. 5 (1986)
    (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/cosby-bill/462/feed/ 0 462 https://wist.info/gibran-kahlil/1632/ https://wist.info/gibran-kahlil/1632/#respond Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=1632 Keep me from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh, and the greatness which does not bow before children.

Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931) Lebanese-American poet, writer, painter [Gibran Khalil Gibran]
Mirrors of the Soul (1965) ]]> https://wist.info/gibran-kahlil/1632/feed/ 0 1632 https://wist.info/socrates/3167/ https://wist.info/socrates/3167/#respond Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=3167 The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.

Socrates (c.470-399 BC) Greek philosopher
(Spurious)

Often claimed as a passage from Socrates via Plato, but actually a paraphrase from a synthesis of complaints about youth in antiquity by Kenneth John Freeman, in his 1907 Cambridge dissertation "Schools of Hellas: an Essay on the Practice and Theory of Ancient Greek Education from 600 to 300 BC." See here for more discussion. ]]> https://wist.info/socrates/3167/feed/ 0 3167 https://wist.info/martin-judith/2700/ https://wist.info/martin-judith/2700/#respond Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=2700 We are all born charming, frank, and spontaneous and must be civilized before we are fit to participate in society.

Judith Martin (b. 1938) American author, journalist, etiquette expert [a.k.a. Miss Manners]
“Miss Manners,” syndicated column (1978-04-23)
    (Source)

Reprinted in Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior, Part 2 "Basic Civilization," "Concerning Children" (1983). ]]> https://wist.info/martin-judith/2700/feed/ 0 2700 https://wist.info/joubert-joseph/2189/ https://wist.info/joubert-joseph/2189/#respond Sun, 01 Feb 2004 19:00:00 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=2189 Children have more need of models than of critics.

[Les enfants ont plus besoin de modèles que de critiques.]

Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist, philosopher, essayist, poet
Pensées [Thoughts], ch. 19 “De l’Éducation [On Education],” ¶ 3 (1850 ed.) [tr. Calvert (1866), ch. 14]
    (Source)

Sometimes attributed to Carolyn Coats.

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

Children have more need of models than of critics.
[tr. Attwell (1896), ¶ 261]

Children need models rather than critics.
[tr. Lyttelton (1899), ch. 18, ¶ 1]

Children. Need models more than critics.
[tr. Auster (1983), 1800 entry]

]]> https://wist.info/joubert-joseph/2189/feed/ 0 2189 https://wist.info/milne-a-a/2844/ https://wist.info/milne-a-a/2844/#respond Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=2844 “Look at me jumping” squeaked Roo, and fell into another mouse-hole.

A. A. Milne (1882-1956) English poet and playwright [Alan Alexander Milne]
Winnie-the-Pooh, ch. 7 “Kanga and Baby Roo Come to the Forest” (1926)
    (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/milne-a-a/2844/feed/ 0 2844 https://wist.info/other/3785/ https://wist.info/other/3785/#respond Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=3785 Par-runts of rugmonkeys everywhere are worrying that their children will want to become Force-wielding breath masked Sithlords? Sweet Cream-of-Jesus on TOAST POINTS, people!! So now we have to fear that every crib-lizard that loves Anakin Skywalker will become Evil Incarnate. It’s been a lovely planet, but I think I need to go, now.

(Other Authors and Sources)
Alan D. Swan ]]> https://wist.info/other/3785/feed/ 0 3785 https://wist.info/nash-ogden/2947/ https://wist.info/nash-ogden/2947/#respond Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=2947 Children aren’t happy with nothing to ignore,
And that’s what parents were created for.

Ogden Nash (1902-1971) American poet
“The Parent,” Happy Days (1933)
    (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/nash-ogden/2947/feed/ 0 2947 https://wist.info/paine-thomas/3068/ https://wist.info/paine-thomas/3068/#respond Sun, 01 Feb 2004 19:00:00 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=3068 If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.

Thomas Paine (1737-1809) American political philosopher and writer
“The American Crisis” #1 (19 Dec 1776)

Source essay ]]> https://wist.info/paine-thomas/3068/feed/ 0 3068 https://wist.info/baldwin-james/1232/ https://wist.info/baldwin-james/1232/#respond Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=1232 Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.

James Baldwin (1924-1987) American novelist, playwright, activist
“Fifth Avenue, Uptown,” Esquire (1960-07)
    (Source)

Reprinted in Nobody Knows My Name (1961). This is sometimes mis-cited to "The Precarious Vogue of Ingmar Bergman," Esquire (1960-04), which is also reprinted there. ]]> https://wist.info/baldwin-james/1232/feed/ 0 1232