Quotes about child
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“The cool-person syndrome is peculiarly American. Part of that has to do with the way the educational business is run in the U. S. It’s not based on how much you can teach your child: it’s based on how much money the suppliers of basic materials can make off your child. Somewhere along the line most people pick up the desire to be a cool person, which is just another way to make them buy things. Once you’ve decided that you need to be a cool person, it makes you a possible victim of anyone whose products are the equivalent of bottled smoke. Somebody tells you to buy this particularly useless item and you’ll be a cool person. No matter how stupid it seems, you have to buy it. Pet Rocks. Pringle’s potato chips. whatever it is — the newest, the latest. Since the cool-person thing is something you learn in school, and since the school business is pretty suspicious and definitely tied up with the government, it makes you wonder whether or not the desire to be cool is part of a government plot to make you buy stupid things.”

Frank Zappa (1940–1993) American musician, songwriter, composer, and record and film producer

Oui interview (1979)

Money, People, Stupidity, Education

“What the marchers on Washington knew, what the marchers in Selma knew, what folks like Julian Bond knew, what the marchers in this room still know, is that justice is not only the absence of oppression, it is the presence of opportunity. Justice is giving every child a shot at a great education no matter what zip code they’re born into. Justice is giving everyone willing to work hard the chance at a good job with good wages, no matter what their name is, what their skin color is, where they live. Justice is living up to the common creed that says, I am my brother’s keeper and my sister’s keeper. Justice is making sure every young person knows they are special and they are important and that their lives matter -- not because they heard it in a hashtag, but because of the love they feel every single day not just love from their parents, not just love from their neighborhood, but love from police, love from politicians. Love from somebody who lives on the other side of the country, but says, that young person is still important to me. That’s what justice is.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

Remarks by the President at the NAACP Conference at Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (July 14, 2015)
2015

Love, Education, Making love, Justice

“The March on Washington teaches us that we are not trapped by the mistakes of history; that we are masters of our fate. But it also teaches us that the promise of this nation will only be kept when we work together. We’ll have to reignite the embers of empathy and fellow feeling, the coalition of conscience that found expression in this place 50 years ago. And I believe that spirit is there, that truth force inside each of us. I see it when a white mother recognizes her own daughter in the face of a poor black child. I see it when the black youth thinks of his own grandfather in the dignified steps of an elderly white man. It’s there when the native-born recognizing that striving spirit of the new immigrant; when the interracial couple connects the pain of a gay couple who are discriminated against and understands it as their own. That’s where courage comes from -- when we turn not from each other, or on each other, but towards one another, and we find that we do not walk alone. That’s where courage comes from.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

2013, "Let Freedom Ring" Ceremony (August 2013)

Pain, Fate, Truth, Youth

“I made the trip knowing I was like the child putting his finger into the hole in the dike. And there are things that … I don’t know … one can’t … oh, why not! The truth is that I spoke clearly to Mr. Nixon. And I told him what I had already told Mr. Heath, Mr. Pompidou, Mr. Brandt. I told him without mincing words that we couldn’t go on with ten million refugees on our backs, we couldn’t tolerate the fuse of such and explosive situation any longer. Well, Mr. Heath, Mr. Pompidou, and Mr. Brandt had understood very well. But not Mr. Nixon. The fact is that when the others understand one thing, Mr. Nixon understands another. I suspected he was very pro-Pakistan. Or rather I knew that the Americans had always been in favor of Pakistan—not so much because they were in favor of Pakistan, but because they were against India.”

Indíra Gándhí (1917–1984) Indian politician and Prime Minister

Oriana Fallaci. Interview with Indira Gandhi in New Delhi, February 1972

Truth, Understanding

“We have in ourselves tendencies that are not good and which flourish like weeds in a field. (Original sin). These tendencies are many; they fall into seven groups, known of old as the Seven deadly sins. All deadly sins tend to separate us from the child; for the child compared to us, is not only purer but has mysterious qualities, which we adults as a rule cannot perceive, but in which we must believe with faith, for Jesus spoke to them so clearly and insistently that all the Evangelists recorded His words: Unless ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall nor enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.”

Maria Montessori (1870–1952) Italian pedagogue, philosopher and physician

That which the educator must seek is to be able to see the child as Jesus saw him. It is with this endeavour, thus defined and delimited, that we wish to deal.
The Secret of Childhood, p. 108

Children, Faith

“In the vivid description of the Gospel, it would seem that we must help the Christ hidden in every poor man, in every prisioner, in every sufferer. But if we paraphrased the marvelous scene and applied it to the child, we should find that Christ goes to help all men in the form of the child.”

Maria Montessori (1870–1952) Italian pedagogue, philosopher and physician

The Secret of Childhood, p. 106

Men, Suffering, Help, Christ

“What women must do, what feminists are now doing is to point to that stage, its sets, its props, its director, and its scriptwriter, as did the child in the fairy tale who discovered that the emperor was naked, and say, the basic inequality between us lies within this framework. And then they must tear it down.”

Gerda Lerner (1920–2013) Austrian-American women's history scholar

The Creation of Patriarchy, Introduction, pp. 13-14
The Creation of Patriarchy (1986)

Women, Tear

“The dynamic principle of fantasy is play, a characteristic also of the child, and as such it appears inconsistent with the principle of serious work. But without this playing with fantasy no creative work has ever yet come to birth. The debt we owe to the play of imagination is incalculable. It is therefore short-sighted to treat fantasy, on account of its risky or unacceptable nature, as a thing of little worth.”

C.G. Jung book Psychological Types

Source: Psychological Types, or, The Psychology of Individuation (1921), Ch. 1, p. 82

Imagination, Birth, Nature, Appearance

“I opened with that which good Catholics have more than once made to Huguenots. "My dear sir," said I, "were you ever baptized?" "No, friend," replied the Quaker, "nor any of my brethren." "Zounds!" said I to him, "you are not Christians then!" "Friend," replied the old man, in a soft tone of voice, "do not swear; we are Christians, but we do not think that sprinkling a few drops of water on a child's head makes him a Christian." "My God!" exclaimed I, shocked at his impiety, "have you then forgotten that Christ was baptized by St. John?" "Friend," replied the mild Quaker, "once again, do not swear. Christ was baptized by John, but He Himself never baptized any one; now we profess ourselves disciples of Christ, and not of John." "Mercy on us," cried I, "what a fine subject you would be for the holy inquisitor! In the name of God, my good old man, let me baptize you."”

Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer, historian, and philosopher

Voltaire's account of his conversations with Andrew Pit
The History of the Quakers (1762)

God, Making love, Thinking, Water

“There is some irony in the fact that children imagine that parents can do what they want, and parents imagine that children do. "When I grow up..." parallels "Oh to be a child again..."”

Shulamith Firestone book The Dialectic of Sex

http://books.google.com/books?id=YnY10fNqqp4C&q=%22There+is+some+irony+in+the+fact+that+children+imagine+that+parents+can+do+what+they+want+and+parents+imagine+that+children+do+When+I+grow+up+parallels+Oh+to+be+a+child+again%22&pg=PA102#v=onepage
The Dialectic of Sex (1970)

Children, Imagination, Parent

“My mother said I was a weird child. I had about 15 imaginary friends and talked to myself, a lot. I still do sometimes - I love the power of pretend. Now I channel all those voices into my characters. It's probably a saner outlet.”

Katori Hall (1981) American playwright

On gravitating towards the dramatic arts even at an early age in “Katori Hall: 'I've had two hours sleep!'” https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2010/mar/23/katori-hall-the-mountaintop-review in The Guardian (2010 Mar 23)

Love, Making love

“My child, all is lost for him, and he will never achieve the rank of 'Master' in any land, because someone who is born a master, always has the lowest standing among 'Masters'.”

Richard Wagner (1813–1883) German composer, conductor

Quotes from his operas, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Hans Sachs, Act 2, Scene 4
Original: (de) Mein Kind, für den ist alles verloren,
und Meister wird der in keinem Land;
denn wer als Meister geboren,
der hat unter Meistern den schlimmsten Stand.

“What I want you to take seriously, is what we have to do for the youth. Because we're coming up in a totally different world. This is not the same world that you had this is not 6th Street its not. You grew up, we grew up B. C. Before crack. That's just saying it all. You understand? We did not grow up without parents. You had parents that told you this and that and told you what went on back in the day. You have young kids, fourteen, coming home and their mama is smoking out, going to their best friend to get the product. You understand what I'm saying? So that means it's not just about you taking care of "your" child. It's about you taking care of "these children". It hurts that I got to, it bothers me, not hurts, that I have to sidestep my youth to stand up and do some shit that somebody else is suppose to be doing. You understand what I'm saying? There's too many men out here for me to be doing this, because it ain't my turn yet. I'm supposed to be following behind him getting the knowledge. I don't even got a chance to get the fucking knowledge. I can't go to college. There's too much problems out here. I don't got the money. Nobody does. You understand what I'm saying? So what I'm saying is, it's not as easy as we're mapping it out to be. We've got to stay real. Before we can be new African we've gotta be black first. You understand? We've gotta get our brothers from the streets like Harriett Tubman did. Why can't we look at that and see exactly what she was doing? Like Malcolm did, the real Malcolm, before the Nation of Islam. You've got to remember, this was a pimp. You know what I'm saying, we forgot about all that. In our strive to be enlightened we forgot about all our brothers in the street, about all our dope dealers, our pushers and our pimps, and that's who's teaching the new generation, because y'all not doing it. I'm sorry. But, it's the pimps and pushers who's teaching us. So, if you got a problem with how we were raised, its because they was the only ones who could do it. They the only ones who did it, because everybody else wanted to go to college, and you know, yeah everything's changed, they were the ones telling you 'the white man ain't shit, there you go, check this out young blood, you take this product, you switch it, you get money and that's how you beat the white man, you get money, you get the hell up out of here.'”

Tupac Shakur (1971–1996) rapper and actor

Nobody else did that. So I don't wanna hear shit about nobody telling me who I can't love and respect until you start doing what they did. To me, this is Mecca. This is the black family. You know what I'm saying? But, what makes it that much sadder, what makes me wanna cry, is that when I leave this place, so does Mecca. You understand what I'm saying? We're going back to the real deal. Right out there, you're going see the same sisters and Brenda, they're right out there, and y'all are going to get in your cars and drive the fuck home.
1990s, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Atlanta (1992)

Men, Money, Children, Youth

“Every child is an artist until he's told he's not an artist.”

John Lennon (1940–1980) English singer and songwriter

“The reward of putting a smile on a child’s face, who has to deal with so many challenges in life, is just beyond words. It's incredible.”

Kristi Yamaguchi (1971) American figure skater

"Kristi Yamaguchi: My Life After Figure Skating" in ABC News https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/kristi-yamaguchi-life-figure-skating/story?id=29556805 (12 March 2015)

Life, Smile

“The last child is becoming more beloved to everyone and more people are willing, day and night, to embrace him with all their love.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Love, People, Night

“Mother love is stronger than the filth and scabbiness on a child, and so the love of God toward us is stronger than the dirt that clings to us.”

Martin Luther book Table Talk

94
Table Talk (1569)

Love, God

“Hitting a child is worse than murder!”

Irving Fiske (1908–1990) American writer

Source: Spoken to parents hitting their children by Irving whenever he saw it. Also spoken in most of the talks he gave on psychological transcendence and awareness. It probably appears in one of the books or magazines with pieces on Q. Hill and Irving Fiske, but I will need to look for it.

“Over the years, those who retain the vitality of a child retain their youth.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: Nel corso degli anni, chi conserva la vitalità di un bambino conserva la sua giovinezza.
Source: prevale.net

Youth

“Try to live with the same intensity as a child. He doesn't ask for explanations; he dives into each day as if it were a new adventure and, at night, sleeps tired and happy.”

Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist

Source: Warrior of the Light

Happiness, Sleep, Night

“Nothing ever fits the palm so perfectly, or feels so right, or inspires so much protective instinct as the hand of a child”

Gregory David Roberts book Shantaram

Source: Shantaram

Feeling

“Laws are meaningless, child. There is nothing more important than love. And no law higher.”

Cassandra Clare book Lady Midnight

Source: Lady Midnight

Love, Law

“I am twenty years old. To a world-wise adult, I am little more than a child. To any child, however, I am old enough to be distrusted, to be excluded forever from the magical community of the short and beardless.”

Dean Koontz Odd Thomas

Source: Odd Thomas

World, Communication

“If you have never been hated by your child, you have never been a parent.”

Bette Davis (1908–1989) film and television actress from the United States

Variant: If you've never been hated by your child, you've never been a parent.

Hate, Parent, For Parents

“A child educated only at school is an uneducated child.”

George Santayana (1863–1952) 20th-century Spanish-American philosopher associated with Pragmatism

“Why I Am Not a Marxist” http://books.google.com/books?id=O4weAQAAMAAJ&q=educated+only+at+school+#search_anchor “Modern Monthly: Volume: 9″ (April 1935); Page: 77-79. <br class="br">Other works

Education, School

“I'm Razo, a member of Bayern's Own," he said, stopping himself from adding "Loafing is just a hobby of mine."
"Bayern's Own? But you're a child."
Razo looked up to the sky. "I'm not a child, I'm just short.”

Shannon Hale River Secrets

Source: River Secrets

“It takes a child to say the unsayable.”

Nick Hornby book How to Be Good

Source: How to Be Good

“A child of five could understand this. Send someone to fetch a child of five.”

Groucho Marx (1890–1977) American comedian

Understanding

“I wished she’d never stop squeezing me. I wished I could spend the rest of my life as a child, being slightly crushed by someone who loved me.”

Gail Carson Levine Ella Enchanted

Source: Ella Enchanted

Love, Life

“Did I hurt your feelings again? Sorry. When this is all over I'll send some flowers to your inner child.”

Richard Kadrey (1957) San Francisco-based novelist, freelance writer, and photographer

Source: Sandman Slim

Feeling, Flowers, Hurt

“He had a moment of clarity about how life should be lived: not as a child or as a woman. They were the two worst things to be.”

Alice Sebold book The Lovely Bones

Source: The Lovely Bones

Life

“Though most expect young men to be fools, I've noticed that just a little bit of age can make a man far more foolish than he was as a child.”

Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer

Source: The Final Empire

Men, Age, Fools

“Quietness is an essential part of all awareness. In quiet times and sleepy times, a child can dwell in thoughts of his own, and in songs and stories of his own.”

Margaret Wise Brown (1910–1952) American children's writer and editor

Time, Parting

“To feed your Muse, then, you should always have been hungry about life since you were a child. If not, it is a little late to start.”

Ray Bradbury (1920–2012) American writer

Life

“I shall never have a bath again," I said.
"Just dont have one too often," my grandmother said. "Once a month is quite enough for a sensible child." It was at times like these that I loved my grandmother more than ever.”

Roald Dahl (1916–1990) British novelist, short story writer, poet, fighter pilot and screenwriter

Love, Time

“All we can do, child, is follow our destiny.”

Rick Riordan book The Lightning Thief

Source: The Lightning Thief

“Beating heroin is child's play compared to beating your childhood.”

Stephen King book The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands

Source: The Waste Lands

Childhood

“It gets tiresome being spoken to as if you are a child, even if you happen to be one.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Name of the Wind

Source: The Name of the Wind

“Oak, granite,
Lilies by the road,
Remember me?
I remember you.
Clouds brushing
Clover hills,
Remember me?
Sister, child,
Grown tall,
Remember me?
I remember you.”

Gail Carson Levine Ella Enchanted

Source: Ella Enchanted

Sister

“It was not fair, it was not fair, it was not fair. So cried his child's heart, and then his child's heart died a little. For that is also the way of the world.”

Stephen King (1947) American author

Source: The Wind Through the Keyhole

World, Way, Heart

“Frank Zhang: lumbering klutz, child of Mars, part-time pachyderm.”

Rick Riordan book The Son of Neptune

Source: The Son of Neptune

Time, Parting

“Puck laughed, and it wasn't like that weird high-pitched giggle she'd heard out of children before, the one that begged the question: why would one possibly tickle a child just to elicit that noise?”

Kresley Cole American writer

Source: Kiss of a Demon King

Children, Question

“A child who is protected from all controversial ideas is as vulnerable as a child who is protected from every germ. The infection, when it comes- and it will come- may overwhelm the system, be it the immune system or the belief system.”

Jane Smiley (1949) American novelist

Idea

“What a pity every child couldn't learn to read under a willow tree…”

Elizabeth George Speare book The Witch of Blackbird Pond

Source: The Witch of Blackbird Pond

Tree, Learning, Reading

“Child, child, do you not see? For each of us comes a time when we must be more than what we are.”

Lloyd Alexander book The Black Cauldron

Source: The Chronicles of Prydain (1964–1968), Book III: The Castle of Llyr (1966), Chapter 1
Source: The Black Cauldron

Time

“I look in the mirror through the eyes of the child that was me.”

Judy Collins (1939) American singer and songwriter

“I always feel uncomfortable when people speak about ordinary mortals because I've never met an ordinary man, woman or child.”

Joseph Campbell The Power of Myth

Source: The Power of Myth

People, Feeling

“Intuition is like reading a word without having to spell it out. A child can't do that because it has had so little experience. A grown-up person knows the word because they've seen it often before.”

Agatha Christie Murder at the Vicarage

Source: Murder at the Vicarage

Reading, Personality

“I can think of few better ways to introduce a child to books than to let her stack them, upend them, rearrange them, and get her fingerprints all over them.”

Anne Fadiman (1953) American essayist, journalist and magazine editor

Source: Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader

Books, Way, Thinking

“The creative writer does the same as the child at play; he creates a world of fantasy which he takes very seriously.”

Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) Austrian neurologist known as the founding father of psychoanalysis

World

“I… understand how a parent might hit a child- it's because you can look into their eyes and see a reflection of yourself that you wish you hadn't.”

Jodi Picoult My Sister's Keeper

Source: My Sister's Keeper

Understanding, Parent

“The fact is that far more crime and child abuse has been committed by zealots in the name of God, Jesus and Mohammed than has ever been committed in the name of Satan. Many people don’t like that statement, but few can argue with it.”

Carl Sagan book The Demon-Haunted World

Source: From the book The Demon-Haunted World Sagan quoting from Kenneth V. Lanning, FBI Behavioral Science Research Unit, from an article Satanic, Occult and Ritualistic Crime in The Police Chief, Oct 1989 note: Misattributed

God, People