“When a child can be brought to tears, not from fear of punishment, but from repentance for his offence, he needs no chastisement. When the tears begin to flow from grief at one's own conduct, be sure there is an angel nestling in the bosom.”

— Horace Mann

Source: Thoughts Selected from the Writings of Horace Mann (1872), p. 116, also paraphrased as: "When a child can be brought to tears, and not from fear of punishment, but from repentance he needs no chastisement. When the tears begin to flow from the grief of their conduct you can be sure there is an angel nestling in their heart.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Sept. 14, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "When a child can be brought to tears, not from fear of punishment, but from repentance for his offence, he needs no cha…" by Horace Mann?

Horace Mann photo

Horace Mann 67

American politician 1796–1859

Related quotes

“For there is a certain luxury in grief; especially when we pour out our sorrows in the bosom of a friend, who will approve, or, at least, pardon our tears.”
Est enim quaedam etiam dolendi voluptas, praesertim si in amici sinu defleas, apud quem lacrimis tuis vel laus sit parata vel venia.

Pliny the Younger (61–113) Roman writer

Letter 16, 5.
Letters, Book VIII

“It is very difficult to explain what takes place in me when I see or hear anything majestic which allows no doubt that it proceeds from the actualization of Our Maker Creator. Each time, my tears flow of themselves. I weep, that is to say, it weeps in me, not from grief, no, but as if from tenderness.”

G. I. Gurdjieff (1866–1949) influential spiritual teacher, Armenian philosopher, composer and writer

All and Everything: Meetings with Remarkable Men (1963)

“And let these tears, distilling from mine eyes,
Be proof of my grief and innocency.”

Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593) English dramatist, poet and translator

Mortimer, Act V, scene vi, line 100
Edward II (c. 1592)

“He kissed his son, and a tear fell from his cheek on to the ground, for he had restrained all tears till now.”

Homér The Odyssey (Cowper)

XVI. 190–191 (tr. Samuel Butler).
Odyssey (c. 725 BC)

“Jesus lives! the same comforting, helping, instructing, loving Elder Brother, as when John leaned on His bosom, as when He lifted Peter up from the waves, as when He dried Mary's tears with His, "Thy sins are forgiven thee." Jesus lives! the same almighty Saviour, Guide, Intercessor, as when He ascended to glory with the broken fetters of sin and death in His pierced hands.”

Abbott Eliot Kittredge (1834–1912) American minister

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 94.

“I come to make song, after the tears.
And even if a choir of men
sprayed my tongue with silence,
poetry will come, with liberating voice,
to make my song fall from the trees
and reach the most deeply buried abysses of those tears
that the child lent me when crying himself into life.Because my infant song
is stronger than man’s tears,
and it could even conquer me
robbing the need of tears from the sun and the wind.”

Juan Antonio Villacañas (1922–2001) Spanish poet, essayist and critic

"New Songs for After the Tears", from Revolt of a Newborn (1973)

“Since to open out
And mourn out grief, where it is possible
To draw a tear from the audience, is a work
That pays its own price well.”

Aeschylus Prometheus Bound

Source: Prometheus Bound, lines 637–639 (tr. Elizabeth Barrett Browning)

“The rose is fairest when 't is budding new,
And hope is brightest when it dawns from fears.
The rose is sweetest wash'd with morning dew,
And love is loveliest when embalm'd in tears.”

Walter Scott (1771–1832) Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet

Canto IV, stanza 1.
The Lady of the Lake http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3011 (1810)

“When a golden girl can win
Prayer from out the lips of sin,
When the barren almond bears,
And a little child gives away its tears,
Then shall all the house be still
And peace come to Canterville.”

Oscar Wilde book The Canterville Ghost

Source: The Canterville Ghost

“When the dryness and the rain finally drink from one another
The gentle cup of mutually surrendered tears!”

Aaron Weiss

The Dryness and the Rain.
Brother, Sister (2006)

Related topics