There was a time when we expected nothing of our children but obedience,
as opposed to the present, when we expect everything of them but
obedience.
Anatole Broyard
I would be the most content if my children grew up to be the kind of
people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough
bookshelves.
Anna Quindlen (1953 - )
Grown-ups never understand anything for themselves, and it is
tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to
them.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900 - 1944), "The Little Prince", 1943
Human beings are the only creatures that allow their children to come
back home.
Bill Cosby (1937 - )
People who get nostalgic about childhood were obviously never
children.
Bill Watterson (1958 - ), Calvin and Hobbes
If you can give your son or daughter only one gift, let it be
enthusiasm.
Bruce Barton
The first half of our lives is ruined by our parents, and the second
half by our children.
Clarence Darrow (1857 - 1938)
Facing a mirror you see merely your own countenance; facing your
child you finally understand how everyone else has seen you.
Daniel Raeburn, The New Yorker, 05-01-2006
If your parents never had children, chances are you won't, either.
Dick Cavett (1936 - )
The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its
children.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906 - 1945)
The best way to keep children home is to make the home atmosphere
pleasant--and let the air out of the tires.
Dorothy Parker (1893 - 1967)
Ask your child what he wants for dinner only if he's buying.
Fran Lebowitz (1950 - )
I must take issue with the term 'a mere child,' for it has been my
invariable experience that the company of a mere child is infinitely
preferable to that of a mere adult.
Fran Lebowitz (1950 - )
Never have children, only grandchildren.
Gore Vidal (1925 - )
A child of five would understand this. Send someone to fetch a child
of five.
Groucho Marx (1890 - 1977)
My mother loved children -- she would have given anything if I had
been one.
Groucho Marx (1890 - 1977)
I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find
out what they want and then advise them to do it.
Harry S Truman (1884 - 1972)
It is not giving children more that spoils them; it is giving them
more to avoid confrontation.
John Gray, "Children Are From Heaven"
You know that children are growing up when they start asking
questions that have answers.
John J. Plomp
Be gentle with the young.
Juvenal (55 AD - 127 AD)
The thing that impresses me the most about America is the way parents
obey their children.
King Edward VIII (1894 - 1972)
Outings are so much more fun when we can savor them through the
children's eyes.
Lawana Blackwell, The Courtship of the Vicar's Daughter, 1998
Youth isn't always all it's touted to be.
Lawana Blackwell, The Dowry of Miss Lydia Clark, 1999
People who say they sleep like a baby usually don't have one.
Leo J. Burke
Children might or might not be a blessing, but to create them and
then fail them was surely damnation.
Lois McMaster Bujold, "Barrayar", 1991
Our children change us... whether they live or not.
Lois McMaster Bujold, "Barrayar", 1991
Some men just aren't cut out for paternity. Better they should
realize it before and not after they become responsible for a son.
Lois McMaster Bujold, Ethan of Athos, 1986
You don't pay back your parents. You can't. The debt you owe them
gets collected by your children, who hand it down in turn. It's a sort
of entailment. Or if you don't have children of the body, it's left as a
debt to your common humanity. Or to your God, if you possess or are
possessed by one.
Lois McMaster Bujold, A Civil Campaign, 1999
Level with your child by being honest. Nobody spots a phony quicker
than a child.
Mary MacCracken
If you want to see what children can do, you must stop giving them
things.
Norman Douglas |