I don't know any parents that look into the eyes of a newborn baby and say, How can we screw read more

I don't know any parents that look into the eyes of a newborn baby and say, How can we screw this kid up.

There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in.

There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in.

Behold, I was shapened in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. [Psalms 51:5].

Behold, I was shapened in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. [Psalms 51:5].

Boys will be boys. And even that wouldn't matter if only we could prevent girls from being girls.

Boys will be boys. And even that wouldn't matter if only we could prevent girls from being girls.

There are three ways to get something done: do it yourself, employ someone, or forbid your children to do it.

There are three ways to get something done: do it yourself, employ someone, or forbid your children to do it.

Let a man turn to his own childhood -- no further -- if he will renew his sense of remoteness, read more

Let a man turn to his own childhood -- no further -- if he will renew his sense of remoteness, and of the mystery of change.

It might sound a paradoxical thing to say --for surely never has a generation of children occupied more sheer hours read more

It might sound a paradoxical thing to say --for surely never has a generation of children occupied more sheer hours of parental time --but the truth is that we neglected you. We allowed you a charade of trivial freedoms in order to avoid making those impositions on you that are in the end both the training ground and proving ground for true independence. We pronounced you strong when you were still weak in order to avoid the struggles with you that would have fed your true strength. We proclaimed you sound when you were foolish in order to avoid taking part in the long, slow, slogging effort that is the only route to genuine maturity of mind and feeling. Thus, it was no small anomaly of your growing up that while you were the most indulged generation, you were also in many ways the most abandoned to your own meager devices by those into whose safe-keeping you had been given.

There are only two things a child will share willingly: communicable diseases and his mother's age.

There are only two things a child will share willingly: communicable diseases and his mother's age.

All lovely things will have an ending, All lovely things will fade and die; And youth, that's now so bravely read more

All lovely things will have an ending, All lovely things will fade and die; And youth, that's now so bravely spending, Will beg a penny by and by.