JASON: O children, what a wicked mother she was to you!
MEDEA: They died from a disease they caught from their father.
JASON: I tell you it was not my hand that destroyed them.
MEDEA: But it was your insolence, and your virgin wedding.
JASON: And just for the sake of that you chose to kill them.
MEDEA: Is love so small a pain, do you think, for a woman?[ἸΆΣΩΝ: ὦ τέκνα, μητρὸς ὡς κακῆς ἐκύρσατε.
ΜΉΔΕΙΑ: ὦ παῖδες, ὡς ὤλεσθε πατρῴᾳ νόσῳ.
ἸΆΣΩΝ: οὔτοι νιν ἡμὴ δεξιά γ᾽ ἀπώλεσεν.
ΜΉΔΕΙΑ: ἀλλ᾽ ὕβρις οἵ τε σοὶ νεοδμῆτες γάμοι.
ἸΆΣΩΝ: λέχους σφε κἠξίωσας οὕνεκα κτανεῖν;
ΜΉΔΕΙΑ: σμικρὸν γυναικὶ πῆμα τοῦτ᾽ εἶναι δοκεῖς;]Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Medea [Μήδεια], l. 1363ff (431 BC) [tr. Warner (1944)]
(Source)
Medea and Jason arguing over her murder of their sons. Here Medea blames Jason for deserting her (which he did) in favor of Princess Glauce (whom she has also killed).
(Source (Greek)). Other translations:JASON: How vile a Mother, O my sons, was yours!
MEDEA: How did ye perish thro' your Father's lust!
JASON: But my right hand was guiltless of their death.
MEDEA: Not so thy cruel taunts, and that new marriage.
JASON: Was my new marriage a sufficient cause
For thee to murder them?
MEDEA:Canst thou suppose
Such wrongs sit light upon the female breast?
[tr. Wodhull (1782)]JASON: My children, a bad mother have you found.
MEDEA: My sons, you perish'd through your father's folly.
JASON: Yet my right hand plung'd not the muurderous sword.
MEDEA: But thy foul wrongs, and thy new nuptials plung'd it.
JASON: And for these nupturals hast thou kill'd thy sons?
MEDEA: This to a woman deem'st thou a slight pain?
[tr. Potter (1814)]JASON: Oh sons, how foul a mother have ye had!
MEDEA: Oh boys, how died ye by your father's guilt!
JASON: Not this right hand of mine slew them, indeed.
MEDEA: No, but thine outrage and new wedding ties.
JASON: So for a bed lost thou thoughtst fit to slay them?
MEDEA: Dost thou count that a light wrong to a woman?
[tr. Webster (1868)]JASON: O my children, how vile a mother ye have found!
MEDEA: My sons, your father's feeble lust has been your ruin!
JASON: 'Twas not my hand, at any rate, that slew them.
MEDEA: No, but thy foul treatment of me, and thy new marriage.
JASON: Didst think that marriage cause enough to murder them?
MEDEA: Dost think a woman counts this a trifling injury?
[tr. Coleridge (1891)]JASON: My children, what a wicked mother have ye found!
MEDEA: My sons, how did ye perish by your father's fault!
JASON: Nevertheless my hand slew them not.
MEDEA: But injury, and thy new nuptials.
JASON: And on account of thy bed didst thou think fit to slay them?
MEDEA: Dost thou deem this a slight evil to a woman?
[tr. Buckley (1892)]JASON: O children mine, what miscreant mother had ye!
MEDEA: O sons, destroyed by your own father's lust!
JASON: Sooth, 'twas no hand of mine that murdered them.
MEDEA: Nay, but thine insolence and thy new-forged bonds.
JASON: How, claim the right for wedlock's sake to slay them!
MEDEA: A light affliction count'st thou this to woman?
[tr. Way (Loeb) (1894)]JASON: Oh, what a womb of sin my children bore!
MEDEA: Sons, did ye perish for your father's shame?
JASON: How? It was not my hand that murdered them.
MEDEA: 'Twas thy false wooings, 'twas thy trampling pride.
JASON: Thou hast said it! For thy lust of love they died.
MEDEA: And love to women a slight thing should be?
[tr. Murray (1906)]JASON: O children, what a wicked mother Fate gave you!
MEDEA: O sons, your father’s treachery cost you your lives.
JASON: It was not my hand that killed my sons.
MEDEA:No, not your hand;
But your insult to me, and your new-wedded wife.
JASON: You thought that reason enough to murder them, that I
No longer slept with you?
MEDEA:And is that injury
A slight one, do you imagine, to a woman?
[tr. Vellacott (1963)]JASON: O children, what an evil mother you encountered!
MEDEA: O children, how your father’s illness killed you!
JASON: At least it wasn’t my right hand that killed them.
MEDEA: No, your insults and your recent marriage.
JASON: Was it really for sex that you decided to kill them?
MEDEA: Do you think that this is small suffering for a woman?
[tr. Podlecki (1989)]JASON: Children, what an evil mother you got.
MEDEA: Children, how you have perished by your father's fault.
JASON: It was not my hand, you know, that killed them.
MEDEA: No: it was the outrage of your new marriage.
JASON: Did you really think it right to kill them because of a marriage?
MEDEA: Do you imagine that loss of love is a trivial grief for a woman?
[tr. Kovacs (Perseus)]JASON: Children, what an evil mother you got!
MEDEA: Children, how you have perished by your father's fault!
JASON: It was not my hand, you know, that killed them.
MEDEA: No: it was the outrage of your new marriage.
JASON: Did you really think it right to kill them because of a marriage?
MEDEA: Do you imagine that loss of this is a trivial grief for a woman?
[tr. Kovacs (Loeb) (1994)]JASON: O children, what a wicked mother you had!
MEDEA: O my sons, how your father's weakness caused your deaths!
JASON: Yet it was no right hand of mine that dealt them ruin!
MEDEA: No, it was your lustful heart and that new marriage of yours.
JASON: What? You decided to kill them because I loved another?
MEDEA: Do you think this is a minor annoyance to a woman?
[tr. Davie (1996)]JASON: My darling children! What a despicable woman gave birth to you!
MEDEA: My darling children! What a despicable man gave you such a destruction!
JASON: They were not murdered by my hand!
MEDEA: No, what killed them was the shame and your new marriage.
JASON: Was an empty bed a good enough reason for your murders?
MEDEA: Do you think an empty bed is such a small thing for a woman?
[tr. Theodoridis (2004)]JASON: Oh children, what a terrible mother you had.
MEDEA: Oh children, how you were destroyed by your father’s disease.
JASON: My right hand did not strike them.
MEDEA: But your abuse and your new marriage.
JASON: You thought the marriage bed was worth your children’s lives?
MEDEA: Do you think this a trivial wrong for a woman?
[tr. Luschnig (2007)]JASON:O my children,
you had such an evil mother!
MEDEA:O my children,
victims of your father’s evil actions!
JASON: At least it was not my hand that killed them.
MEDEA: No. It was an insult — your new marriage.
JASON: Was it right to murder them for that?
MEDEA: Do you think an insult to a woman
is something insignificant?
[tr. Johnston (2008)]JASON: My children, how kakē is the mother you have found!
MEDEA: My sons, your father’s lust has been your ruin.
JASON: It was not my right hand that slew them.
MEDEA: No, your hubris and your new marriage-bed.
JASON: Did you think that that was reason enough to murder them?
MEDEA: Do you think a woman finds that a tiny pain?
[tr. Coleridge / Ceragioli / Nagy / Hour25]JASON: Oh, children, what a wicked mother you had!
MEDEA: Oh, sons, you were ruined by your father's disease.
JASON: It wasn't my right hand that murdered them.
MEDEA: No, it was your insolence, your new-forged marriage.
JASON: You judged it right to kill them for your bed?
MEDEA: You think that pain's a small thing for a woman?
[tr. Kovacs / Kitzinger (2016)]
Quotations about:
father
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
With him for a sire and her for a dam,
What should I be but just what I am?Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) American poet
Poem (1920-11), “The Singing-Woman from the Wood’s Edge,” Vanity Fair, Vol. 14, No. 3
(Source)
Collected in A Few Figs from Thistles (1921).
"Singing-Woman" is usually hyphenated in collections, but in Vanity Fair it was rendered "Singin' Woman" and in the original publication in Figs as "Singingwoman".
And in that moment Sherman made the terrible discovery that men make about their fathers sooner or later. For the first time he realized that the man before him was not an aging father but a boy, a boy much like himself, a boy who grew up and had a child of his own and, as best he could, out of a sense of duty and, perhaps love, adopted a role called Being a Father so that his child would have something mythical and infinitely important: a Protector, who would keep a lid on all the chaotic and catastrophic possibilities of life.
Tom Wolfe (1930-2018) American author and journalist [Thomas Kennerly Wolfe Jr.]
The Bonfire of the Vanities, ch. 21 (1987)
(Source)
My friends and I were all deathly afraid of our fathers, which was right and proper and even biblically ordained. Fathers were angry; it was their job.
But the best inheritance that fathers can give their children, more precious than any patrimony however large, is a reputation for virtue and for worthy deeds, which if the child disgraces, his conduct should be branded as infamous and impious.
[Optima autem hereditas a patribus traditur liberis omnique patrimonio praestantior gloria virtutis rerumque gestarum, cui dedecori esse nefas et vitium iudicandum est.]
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
De Officiis [On Duties; On Moral Duty; The Offices], Book 1, ch. 33 (1.33) / sec. 121 (44 BC) [tr. Peabody (1883)]
(Source)
(Source (Latin)). Alternate translation:Now the noblest inheritance that can ever be left by a father to his son, and far exceeding that of houses and lands, is the fame of his virtues and glorious actions; and for a son to live so, as is unworthy of the name and reputation of his ancestors, is the basest and most abominable thing in the world.
[tr. Cockman (1699)]The best inheritance left by a father to his children, superior to every other patrimony, is the honor of a virtuous conduct, and the glory of his public transactions. And it is base and criminal by an unworthy conduct, to bring disgrace upon a father's reputation.
[tr. McCartney (1798)]Now, the best inheritance a parent can leave a child -- more excellent than any patrimony -- is the glory of his virtue and his deeds; to bring disgrace on which ought to be regarded as wicked and monstrous.
[tr. Edmonds (1865)]The noblest heritage, the richest patrimony a father can bequeath to his children is a reputation for virtue and noble deeds. To tarnish his good name is a sin and a crime.
[tr. Gardiner (1899)]The best legacy a father can leave to his children, a legacy worth far more than the largest patrimony, is the fame of a virtuous and well-spent life. He who disgraces such a bequest is deserving of infamy.
[ed. Harbottle (1906)]The noblest heritage, however, that is handed down from fathers to children, and one more precious than any inherited wealth, is a reputation for virtue and worthy deeds; and to dishonour this must be branded as a sin and a shame.
[tr. Miller (1913)]The best heritage that descends from fathers to sons is the fame for honesty and great deeds. Such fame surpasses any legacy. We must judge it a crime and a shame to disgrace it.
[tr. Edinger (1974)]
O prince, in early youth divinely wise,
Born, the Ulysses of thy age to rise
If to the son the father’s worth descends,
O’er the wide wave success thy ways attends
To tread the walks of death he stood prepared;
And what he greatly thought, he nobly dared.[Τηλέμαχ᾽, οὐδ᾽ ὄπιθεν κακὸς ἔσσεαι οὐδ᾽ ἀνοήμων,
εἰ δή τοι σοῦ πατρὸς ἐνέστακται μένος ἠύ,
οἷος κεῖνος ἔην τελέσαι ἔργον τε ἔπος τε:
οὔ τοι ἔπειθ᾽ ἁλίη ὁδὸς ἔσσεται οὐδ᾽ ἀτέλεστος.]Homer (fl. 7th-8th C. BC) Greek author
The Odyssey [Ὀδύσσεια], Book 2, l. 271ff (2.271-274) (c. 700 BC) [tr. Pope (1725)]
(Source)
Athena (looking like Mentor) addressing Odysseus' son, Telemachus.
(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:Those Wooers well might know, Telemachus,
Thou wilt not ever weak and childish be,
If to thee be instill’d the faculty
Of mind and body that thy father grac’d;
And if, like him, there be in thee enchac’d
Virtue to give words works, and works their end.
This voyage, that to them thou didst commend,
Shall not so quickly, as they idly ween,
Be vain, or giv’n up, for their opposite spleen.
[tr. Chapman (1616)]If in you you retain the spirit brave
Your father had, to make his word his deed,
Then also the assurance I shall have,
To tell you in your voyage you shall speed.
[tr. Hobbes (1675), l. 257ff]Telemachus! thou shalt hereafter prove
Nor base, nor poor in talents. If, in truth,
Thou have received from heav’n thy father’s force
Instill’d into thee, and resemblest him
In promptness both of action and of speech,
Thy voyage shall not useless be, or vain.
[tr. Cowper (1792), l. 355ff]Not base and foolish after all is done
Shalt thou be counted, if the brave old blood
hath from the sire descended to the son.
If thou like him both word and deed make good,
Then were thy journey all in vain withstood.
[tr. Worsley (1861), st. 37]Tel'mac'! no craven wilt thou be nor dullard;
If but one drop of they sire's good blood be in thee,
Such as he was in feats of deed or word:
So will not be thy journey vain nor bootless!
[tr. Bigge-Wither (1869)]Telemachus, even hereafter thou shalt not be craven or witless, if indeed thou hast a drop of thy father’s blood and a portion of his spirit; such an one was he to fulfil both word and work. Nor, if this be so, shall thy voyage be vain or unfulfilled.
[tr. Butcher/Lang (1879)]Telemachus, now shalt thou be no foolish faintheart thing.
If of they father's good-heart in thee hath sprung the seed,
Such a man for the word well-spoken, and fulfilment of the deed,
Not in vain shall be thy faring, nor thy going forth be undone.
[tr. Morris (1887)]Telemachus, henceforth you shall not be a base man nor a foolish, if in you stirs the brave soul of your father, and you like him can give effect to deed and word. Then shall this voyage not be vain and ineffective.
[tr. Palmer (1891)]Telemachus, if you are made of the same stuff as your father you will be neither fool nor coward henceforward, for Ulysses never broke his word nor left his work half done. If, then, you take after him, your voyage will not be fruitless.
[tr. Butler (1898)]Telemachus, neither hereafter shalt thou be a base man or a witless, if aught of thy father's goodly spirit has been instilled into thee, such a man was he to fulfil both deed and word. So then shall this journey of thine be neither vain nor unfulfilled.
[tr. Murray (1919)]Telemachus, let not your courage and resource fail you now. In your father deed and word notably marched together to their deliberate end. If your body holds a trace of his temper it will suffice to make this effort of yours neither bootless nor aimless.
[tr. Lawrence (1932)]Today has proved you, Telemachus, neither a coward nor a fool, nor destined to be such, if we are right in thinking that your father’s manly vigour has descended to his son -- and what a man he was in action and debate! No fear, then, that this journey of yours will end in farce or failure.
[tr. Rieu (1946)]You'll never be fainthearted or a fool,
Telémakhos, if you have your father's spirit;
he finished what he cared to say,
and what he took in hand he brought to pass.
The sea routes will yield their distances
to his true son, Penélopê's true son.
[tr. Fitzgerald (1961)]Telemachos, you are to be no thoughtless man, no coward,
if truly the strong force of your father is instilled in you;
such a man he was for accomplishing word and action.
Your journey then will be no vain thing nor go unaccomplished.
[tr. Lattimore (1965)]Telemachus,
you'll lack neither courage nor sense from this day on,
not if your father's spirit courses through your veins --
now there was a man, I'd say, in words and action both!
So how can your journey end in shipwreck or defeat?
[tr. Fagles (1996)]You won't turn out to be a fool or a coward,
Telemachus, not if any of Odysseus' spirit
Has been instilled in you. Now there was a man
Who made sure of his words and deeds! Don't worry,
You'll make this journey, and it won't be in vain.
[tr. Lombardo (2000), l. 293ff]Telemachus, if your father’s fine spirit is found in you, you will be neither a fool nor a coward in the time to come, and this journey of yours will be no idle failure. But if you are not Odysseus’ and Penelope’s son, then I have no hopes of you achieving your end. There are not many sons, indeed, who resemble their fathers: most are worse, and only a few are better.
[tr. Kline (2004)]Telemachus, you will not in future prove cowardly or foolish if you have truly inherited your father's strong vigor -- and what a man he was for carrying out his word and deed -- and so your journey will surely not be unfulfilled or in vain.
[tr. Verity (2016)]Telemachus, you will be brave and thoughtful,
if your won father's forcefulness runs through you.
How capable he was, in word and deed!
Your journey will succeed, if you are his.
[tr. Wilson (2017)]Tēlemachos, you'll turn out neither craven nor witless
if in deed you've been imbued with your father's rare strength --
such a man he was, so masterful in both deeds and words!
In that case your mission won't be useless or unfulfilled.
[tr. Green (2018)]Telemachus,
in future days you will not be worthless
or a stupid man, if you have in you now
something of your father’s noble spirit.
He’s the sort of man who, in word and deed,
saw things to their conclusion. So for you
this trip will not be in vain or pointless.
[tr. Johnston (2019), l. 364ff]
Few match their fathers. Any tongue can tell
The more are worse: yea, almost none their sires excel.[παῦροι γάρ τοι παῖδες ὁμοῖοι πατρὶ πέλονται,
οἱ πλέονες κακίους, παῦροι δέ τε πατρὸς ἀρείους.]Homer (fl. 7th-8th C. BC) Greek author
The Odyssey [Ὀδύσσεια], Book 2, l. 276ff (2.276) [Athena to Telemachus] (c. 700 BC) [tr. Worsley (1861), st. 37]
(Source)
(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:For few, that rightly bred on both sides stand,
Are like their parents, many that are worse,
And most few better. Those then that the nurse
Or mother call true-born yet are not so,
Like worthy sires much less are like to grow.
[tr. Chapman (1616)]Few sons exceed or reach their father’s might,
But commonly inferior they are.
[tr. Hobbes (1675), l. 257ff]Few sons attain the praise
Of their great sires, and most their sires disgrace.
[tr. Pope (1725)]Few sons their fathers equal; most appear
Degenerate; but we find, though rare, sometimes
A son superior even to his Sire.
[tr. Cowper (1792)]Few be the children equal to their father:
The most be worse: and few be better men.
[tr. Bigge-Wither (1869)]For few children, truly, are like their father; lo, the more part are worse, yet a few are better than the sire.
[tr. Butcher/Lang (1879)]Though not oft is the son meseemeth e'en such an one as his sire.
Worser they be for the more part, and a few may be better forsooth.
[tr. Morris (1887)]Few sons are like their fathers; most are worse, few better than the father.
[tr. Palmer (1891)]Sons are seldom as good men as their fathers; they are generally worse, not better.
[tr. Butler (1898)]Few sons indeed are like their fathers; most are worse, few better than their fathers.
[tr. Murray (1919)]Few are the sons who attain their fathers' stature: and very few surpass them. Most fall short in merit.
[tr. Lawrence (1932)]Few sons, indeed, are like their fathers. Generally they are worse; but just a few are better.
[tr. Rieu (1946)]The son is rare who measures with his father,
and one in a thousand is a better man.
[tr. Fitzgerald (1961)]For few are the children who turn out to be equals of their fathers,
and the greater number are worse; few are better than their father is.
[tr. Lattimore (1965)]Few sons are the equals of their fathers;
most fall short, all too few surpass them.
[tr. Fagles (1996)]You know, few sons turn out to be like their fathers;
Most turn out worse, a few better.
[tr. Lombardo (2000), ll. 300-301]It is a truth that few sons are the equal of their fathers; most are inferior to their father, and few surpass them.
[tr. Verity (2016), l. 276]And it is rare for sons to be like fathers;
only a few are better, most are worse.
[tr. Wilson (2017)]Few are the sons who prove the equal of their fathers:
most are worth less, hardly any provem themselves better.
[tr. Green (2018)]It’s true few men
are like their fathers. Most of them are worse.
Only very few of them are better.
[tr. Johnston (2019), l. 373ff]
I will leave it for the present, as this letter is already pretty long. Such is my desire, my anxiety for your perfection, that I never think I have said enough, though you may possibly think I have said too much; and though, in truth, if your own good sense is not sufficient to direct you, in many of these plain points, all that I or anybody else can say will be insufficient.
Lord Chesterfield (1694-1773) English statesman, wit [Philip Dormer Stanhope]
Letter to his son, #168 (18 Nov 1748)
(Source)
Chesterfield repeats the sentiment in a later letter, #194 (22 Sep 1749):This letter is a very long, and so possibly a very tedious one; but my anxiety for your perfection is so great, and particularly at this critical and decisive period of your life, that I am only afraid of omitting, but never of repeating or dwelling too long upon anything that I think may be of the least use to you.
The man who is fortunate in his choice of a son-in-law gains a son; the man unfortunate in his choice loses his daughter also.
[Δημόκριτος ἔφη, ὡς γαμβροῦ ὁ μὲν ἐπιτυχὼν εὗρεν υἱόν, ὁ δὲ ἀποτυχὼν ἀπώλεσε καὶ θυγατέρα.]
Democritus (c. 460 BC - c. 370 BC) Greek philosopher
Frag. 272 (Diels) [tr. Freeman (1948)]
(Source)
Diels citation "272. (0 N.) ... Zweifelhalft, da Apophthegmenform."; collected in Joannes Stobaeus (Stobaios) Anthologium IV, 70, 18.
Alternate translations:
- "One who is lucky in his son-in-law gains a son, one who is unlucky loses a daughter." [tr. Barnes (1987)]
- "The man who is lucky in his son-in-law gains a son, whilst the man who fails loses a daughter."
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)]
Being a father
Is quite a bother,
But I like it, rather.Ogden Nash (1902-1971) American poet
“Soliloquy in Circles,” New Yorker (27 Mar 1948)
(Source)
Reprinted in Versus (1949).
Now the thing about having a baby — and I can’t be the first person to have noticed this — is that thereafter you have it.
Jean Kerr (1922-2003) American author and playwright [b. Bridget Jean Collins]
Essay (1957), “Introduction,” Please Don’t Eat the Daisies
(Source)
JUST DISCOURSE: Do not bandy words with your father, nor treat him as a dotard, nor reproach the old man, who has cherished you, with his age.
Aristophanes (c. 450-c. 388 BC) Athenian comedic playwright
Clouds, ll. 998-999 (423 BC) [tr. Athenian Soc. (1912)]
(Source)
Alt. trans.:
- JUST ΛΟΓΟΣ: "[Learn] not to contradict your father in any thing; nor by calling him Iapetus, to reproach him with the ills of age, by which you were reared in your infancy." [tr. Hickie (1853)]
- RIGHT LOGIC: "Nor dare to reply when your Father is nigh, nor 'musty old Japhet' to call / In your malice and rage that Sacred Old Age which lovingly cherished your youth." [tr. Rogers (1924)]
We’re like a rich father who wishes he knew how to give his son the hardships that made the father such a man.
Robert Frost (1874-1963) American poet
Comment, “Meet the Press” (22 Mar 1959)
When asked by Ernest Lindley whether American civilization had improved or declined in his lifetime. Often misquoted as "Americans are like a rich father who wishes he knew how to give his son the hardships that made him rich."
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)
My father had a profound influence on me. He was a lunatic.
Terence Alan "Spike" Milligan (1918-2002) Anglo-Irish comedian, writer, actor
(Attributed)
The father of a daughter is nothing but a high-class hostage. A father turns a stony face to his sons, berates them, shakes his antlers, paws the ground, snorts, runs them off into the underbrush, but when his daughter puts her arm over his shoulder and says, “Daddy, I need to ask you something,” he is a pat of butter in a hot frying pan.
Garrison Keillor (b. 1942) American entertainer, author
The Book of Guys, Introduction (1993)
Washington acted as the representative of the needs, the ideas, the enlightened men, the opinions of his age; he supported, not thwarted, the stirrings of intellect; he desired only what he had to desire, the very thing to which he had been called: from which derives the coherence and longevity of his work. That man who struck few blows because he kept things in proportion has merged his existence with that of his country: his glory is the heritage of civilisation; his fame has risen like one of those public sanctuaries where a fecund and inexhaustible spring flows.
François-René de Chateaubriand (1768-1848) French writer, politican, diplomat
Memoirs from Beyond the Grave [Mémoires d’Outre-Tombe], Book 6, ch. 8 (1848-1850) [tr. Kline]
On George Washington.
“Are you lost, daddy?” I asked tenderly.
“Shut up,” he explained.Ring Lardner (1885-1933) American sports columnist and writer [Ringgold Wilmer Lardner]
The Young Immigrants, ch. 10 (1920)
The best thing to give to your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent, tolerance; to a friend, your heart; to your child, a good example; to a father, deference; to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you; to yourself, respect; to all men, charity.
Clara Lucas Balfour (1808-1878) English novelist, lecturer, temperance campaigner
Sunbeams for All Seasons: Counsels, Cautions, and Precepts (1861 ed.)
Certain it is, that there is no kind of affection so pure and angelic as that of a father to a daughter. He beholds her, both wise and without regard to her sex. In love to our wives there is desire, to our sons there is ambition; but in that to our daughters, there is something which there are no words to describe.
Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
Essay (1712-08-05), The Spectator, No. 449
(Source)
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.
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).
When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.
Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
(Spurious)
Not found in Twain's writing. He was eleven when his father died.
They say the religion of your fathers is good enough. Why should a father object to your inventing a better plow than he had?
Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Speech on Religious Intolerance, Pittsburgh Opera House (14 Oct 1879)
