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Now and in the time to be, try to be kind to your parents. If this sounds too close to “Honor thy mother and father” for your comfort, so be it. All I am trying to say is try not to rebel against them, for, in all likelihood, they will die before you do, so you can spare yourselves at least this source of guilt if not of grief. If you must rebel, rebel against those who are not so easily hurt. Parents are too close a target (so, by the way, are sisters, brothers, wives or husbands); the range is such that you can’t miss.
Joseph Brodsky (1940-1996) Russian-American poet, essayist, Nobel laureate, US Poet Laureate [Iosif Aleksandrovič Brodskij]
“Speech at the Stadium,” Commencement Address, University of Michigan (18 Dec 1988)
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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)
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The man who has nothing to boast of but his illustrious ancestry, is somewhat like a potatoe, the only good thing is under ground.
Thomas Overbury (1581-1613) English poet Characters (1612)
(Source)
Referenced in John Ireland, Letters and Poems by the Late Mr. John Henderson (1786).
Variant: "The man who has not anything to boast of but his illustrious ancestors, is like a potatoe, the only good belonging to him is under ground." -- The Lady's Monthly Museum (June 1807).
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)
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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)
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)
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)
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We cannot blame the schools alone for that dismal decline in SAT verbal scores. […] What happens at home really matters. And when our kids come home from school, do they pick up a book, or do they sit glued to the tube watching music videos? Parents: don’t make the mistake of thinking your kids only learn from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. You are and always will be their first teachers.
George H. W. Bush (1924-2018) American politician, diplomat, US President (1989-1993)
Speech, Lewiston Comprehensive High School, Maine (3 Sep 1991)
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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.)
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.