On being a parent : on being a child—2

What is an adult? A child blown up by age.

Simone de Beauvoir . 1908-1986 . French author and existentialist philosopher . A woman destroyed

When you cook it should be an act of love.  To put a frozen bag in the microwave for your child is an act of hate. 

Raymond Blanc . 1949-  . French chef . article, Daily Telegraph

We have not inherited this earth from our parents to do with it what we will. We have borrowed it from our children and we must be careful to use it in their interests as well as our own.

Moses Henry Cass . 1927-  . Australian politician [this appears to be earliest (1974) expression of this idea]

We often sing lullabies to our children that we ourselves may sleep.

Kahlil Gibran . 1883-1931 . Lebanese-American artist, poet and writer . Sand and foam

Never have children, only grandchildren.

Thomas Gore . 1870-1949 . American politician (ironically, often misattributed to Gore Vidal, his grandson)

We are so peculiarly constituted that it is easier to be a large hero than a small martyr: a father would willingly risk his life to save his child from a burning building, but not give up his afternoon of golf to take the child to the zoo. Yet it is the small sacrifices, multiplied many times, that give love more meaning than the heroic gesture in a crisis.

Sydney J Harris . 1917-1986 . American syndicated columnist and drama critic . article, Newcastle News and elsewhere (1975)

If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.

Thomas Paine . 1737-1809 . English-American political writer, theorist and activist . The American crisis

Anyone who has much to do with children knows how they are constantly performing some antic, and saying “Look at me”.  “Look at me” is one of the most fundamental desires of the human heart.

Bertrand Russell . 1872-1970 . British philosopher, mathematician, historian and social critic . What desires are politically important?

Eating, and that feel of food in the mouth, is all part of comfort and affection and warmth, and I think that a lot of the reason that I turned to food was because I was actually quite a lonely child.

Nigel Slater . 1958-  . English food writer . interview, AfterElton.com

All the time a person is a child he is both a child and learning to be a parent. After he becomes a parent he becomes predominantly a parent reliving childhood.

Benjamin Spock . 1903-1998 . American paediatrician and author

I stopped believing in Santa Claus when my mother took me to see him in a department store, and he asked for my autograph. 

Shirley Temple . 1928-2014 . American child actress

Related material:
>  Quotations:  On being a parent : on being a child
>  Quotations:  On being a parent : on being a child—3

selection copyright © 2016 Jeremy Marchant . uploaded 21 january 2016