CHORUS: I say that mortals who have no experience
Of and have never had children
Have a better chance for happiness
Than those who bear them.ΚΥΚΛΩΨ: καί φημι βροτῶν οἵτινές εἰσιν
πάμπαν ἄπειροι μηδ᾿ ἐφύτευσαν
παῖδας προφέρειν εἰς εὐτυχίαν
τῶν γειναμένων.Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Medea [Μήδεια], l. 1090ff (431 BC) [tr. @sentantiq (2020)]
(Source)
By missing out on the burden of how to rear children properly, and bequeathing them an adequate inheritance, all the while not knowing if the children will turn out to be good people or bad ones. Oh, yeah, and they might die prematurely.(Source (Greek)). Other translations:I maintain,
They who in total inexperience live,
Nor ever have been Parents, are more happy
Than they to whom much progeny belongs.
[tr. Wodhull (1782)]This truth to all will I declare,
The free, th' unwedded, those that claim
No title to a father's name,
Uncumber'd with that care,
The paths of life with purer pleasure trace,
Than those that own a numerous race,
Their inexperience yet untaught
Who have no child.
[tr. Potter (1814)]And now I aver that of mortals those
Who have never wed, or known children theirs,
Than parents are happier far.
[tr. Webster (1868)]And amongst mortals I do assert that they who are wholly without experience and have never had children far surpass in happiness those who are parents.
[tr. Coleridge (1891)]And I say that those men who are entirely free from wedlock, and have not begotten children, surpass in happiness those who have families.
[tr. Buckley (1892)]Now this I say — calm bliss, that ne'er
Knew love's wild fever of the blood,
The pains, the joys, of motherhood,
Passeth all parents' joy-blent care.
[tr. Way (Loeb) (1894)]And thus my thought would speak: that she
Who ne'er hath borne a child nor known
Is nearer to felicity.
[tr. Murray (1906)]This I say, that those who have never
Had children, who know nothing of it,
In happiness have the advantage
Over those who are parents.
[tr. Warner (1944)]And this is my opinion: those men or women
Who never had children of their own at all
Enjoy the advantage in good fortune
Over those who are parents.
[tr. Vellacott (1963)]My conclusion is that people
Who’ve never borne children
Are much happier
Than parents.
[tr. Podlecki (1989)]I say that those mortals who are utterly without experience of children and have never borne them have the advantage in good fortune over those who have.
[tr. Kovacs (Loeb) (1994); tr. Kovacs / Zhang / Rogak]And I declare that, in the matter of happiness, those mortals who have produced children are less fortunate than those who have no experience at all of parenthood.
[tr. Davie (1996)]So I have this view that those who have no children, children that they have given birth to and have raised, those people are much happier than those who do have any!
[tr. Theodoridis (2004)]I have come to believe that human beings who
have never had the experience of rearing
children, are much better off than
those of us who are parents.
[tr. Luschnig (2007)]So I can claim that among human beings
those who have no experience of children,
who have never given birth to offspring,
such people have far more happiness
than those who have been parents.
[tr. Johnston (2008)]And I say people who have no experience and no children are far more happy than those who have them.
[tr. Ewans (2022)]I do declare that those among mortals who are wholly without experience of children’s birth far surpass in happiness those who are parents.
[tr. Coleridge / Ceragioli / Nagy / Hour25]
Quotations about:
motherhood
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
Nothing is sweeter to children than a mother; love your mother, children, for no where is there a love as sweet as this.
[οὐκ ἔστι μητρὸς οὐδὲν ἥδιον τέκνοις•
ἐρᾶτε μητρός, παῖδες, ὡς οὐκ ἔστ’ ἔρως
τοιοῦτος ἄλλος ὅστις ἡδίων ἐρᾶν.]Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Erectheus [Ἐρεχθεύς], frag. 358 (TGF) (422 BC)
(Source)
Ironically, Erechthus, as King of Athens, sacrifices one or more of the daughters to ensure the wartime survival of Athens.
Nauck frag. 358, Barnes frag. 35, Musgrave frag. 8. (Source (Greek)). Alternate translations: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)]
He is her glory. Any woman could say it. For every one of them, God is in her child. Mothers of great men must have been familiar with this feeling, but then, all women are mothers of great men — it isn’t their fault if life disappoints them later.
Boris Pasternak (1890-1960) Russian poet, novelist, and literary translator
Doctor Zhivago [До́ктор Жива́го], Part 2, ch. 9 “Varykino,” sec. 3 [Yury] (1955) [tr. Hayward & Harari (1958), US ed.]
(Source)
Comparing all motherhood to that of Mary toward Jesus.
Alternate translations:He is her glory. Any woman could say it. For every one of them, God is in her child. Mothers of great men must have this feeling particularly, but then, at the beginning, all women are mothers of great men -- it isn’t their fault if life disappoints them later.
[tr. Hayward & Harari (1958), UK ed.]He is her glory. Every woman can say the same. Her god is in her child. Mothers of great people should be familiar with that feeling. But decidedly all mothers are mothers of great people, and it is not their fault that life later disappoints them.
[tr. Pevear & Volokhonsky (2010)]
Being a mother is a noble status, right? So why does it change when you put “unwed” or “welfare” in front of it?
Florynce "Flo" Kennedy (1916-2000) American lawyer, feminist, civil rights activist
(Attributed)
(Source)
Quoted in Gloria Steinem, "The Verbal Karate of Florynce R. Kennedy, Esq.," Ms. (Mar 1973).
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.
Next to God, we are indebted to women, first for life itself, and then for making it worth having.
Christian Nestell Bovee (1820-1904) American epigrammatist, writer, publisher
Thoughts, Feelings, and Fancies (1857)
