Father asked us what was God’s noblest work. Anna said men, but I said babies. Men are often bad; babies never are.

Louisa May Alcott
Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) American writer
Diary (1843-09-01)
    (Source)

Quoted in Edna D. Cheney, ed., Louisa May Alcott: Her Life, Letters, and Journals (1889)