"You do not chop off a section of your imaginative substance and make a book specifically for children, for — if you are honest — you have no idea where childhood ends and maturity begins. It is all endless and all one."

"The booby father craves a booby son, And by heaven's blessing thinks himself undone."

"Adolescents are simply those people who haven't as yet chosen between childhood and adulthood. For as long as anyone tries to hold on to the advantages of childhood—the freedom from responsibility, principally—while seeking to lay claim to the best parts of adulthood, such as independence, he is an adolescent. [...] Eventually most people choose to be adults, or are forced into it. A very few retreat into childhood and never leave it again. A large number remain adolescents for life."

"The children in Holland take pleasure in making What the children in England take pleasure in breaking."

"Do ye hear the children weeping, O my brothers, Ere the sorrow comes with years? They are leaning their young heads against their mothers, And that cannot stop their tears."

"Pietas fundamentum est omnium virtutum."

"When I was a child, I spake as a child. I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things."

"Better to be driven out from among men than to be disliked of children."

"They are idols of hearts and of households; They are angels of God in disguise; His sunlight still sleeps in their tresses, His glory still gleams in their eyes; Those truants from home and from Heaven They have made me more manly and mild; And I know now how Jesus could liken The kingdom of God to a child."

"When the lessons and tasks are all ended, And the school for the day is dismissed, The little ones gather around me, To bid me good-night and be kissed; Oh, the little white arms that encircle My neck in their tender embrace Oh, the smiles that are halos of heaven, Shedding sunshine of love on my face."

"Childhood has no forebodings; but then, it is soothed by no memories of outlived sorrow."

"Wynken, Blynken and Nod one night Sailed off in a wooden shoe— Sailed on a river of crystal light Into a sea of dew."

"Alas! regardless of their doom, The little victims play; No sense have they of ills to come, Nor care beyond to-day."

"But still when the mists of doubt prevail, And we lie becalmed by the shores of age, We hear from the misty troubled shore The voice of the children gone before. Drawing the soul to its anchorage."

"I think that saving a little child And bringing him to his own, Is a derned sight better business Than loafing around the throne."

"Few sons attain the praise Of their great sires and most their sires' disgrace."

"Nondum enim quisquam suum parentem ipse cognosvit."

"Another tumble! that's his precious nose!"

"Oh, when I was a tiny boy My days and nights were full of joy. My mates were blithe and kind! No wonder that I sometimes sigh And dash the tear drop from my eye To cast a look behind!"

"Children, ay, forsooth, They bring their own love with them when they come, But if they come not there is peace and rest; The pretty lambs! and yet she cries for more: Why, the world's full of them, and so is heaven— They are not rare."

"Nil dictu fœdum visuque hæc limina tangat Intra quæ puer est."

": Let nothing foul to either eye or ear reach those doors within which dwells a boy."

"Les enfants n'ont ni passé ni avenir; et, ce qui ne nous arrive guère, ils jouissent du présent."

": Children have neither past nor future; and that which seldom happens to us, they rejoice in the present."

"Mais un fripon d'enfant (cet âge est sans pitié)."

": But a rascal of a child (that age is without pity)."

"A babe is fed with milk and praise."

"Oh, would I were a boy again, When life seemed formed of sunny years, And all the heart then knew of pain Was wept away in transient tears!"

"There was a little girl, And she had a little curl, Right in the middle of her forehead; When she was good she was very, very good, When she was bad she was horrid."

"Ah! what would the world be to us If the children were no more? We should dread the desert behind us Worse than the dark before."

"Perhaps there lives some dreamy boy, untaught In schools, some graduate of the field or street, Who shall become a master of the art, An admiral sailing the high seas of thought Fearless and first, and steering with his fleet For lands not yet laid down in any chart."

"Who can foretell for what high cause This darling of the gods was born?"

"Each one could be a Jesus mild, Each one has been a little child, A little child with laughing look, A lovely white unwritten book; A book that God will take, my friend, As each goes out at journey's end."

"And he who gives a child a treat Makes Joy-bells ring in Heaven's street, And he who gives a child a home Builds palaces in Kingdom come, And she who gives a baby birth, Brings Saviour Christ again to Earth."

"Lord, give to men who are old and rougher The things that little children suffer, And let keep bright and undefiled The young years of the little child."

"Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not."

"Ah, il n'y a plus d'enfant."

"Parentes objurgatione digni sunt, qui nolunt liberos suos severa lege proficere."

": Parents deserve reproof when they refuse to benefit their children by severe discipline."

"The wildest colts make the best horses."

"A wise son maketh a glad father."

"Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old he will not depart from it."

"Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all."

"Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them."

"God mark thee to his grace! Thou wast the prettiest babe that e'er I nursed: An I might live to see thee married once, I have my wish."

"Hush, my dear, lie still and slumber, Holy angels guard thy bed! Heavenly blessings without number Gently falling on thy head."

"A babe in a house is a well-spring of pleasure."

"Baby smiled, mother wailed, Earthward while the sweetling sailed; Mother smiled, baby wailed, When to earth came Viola."

"Beat upon mine, little heart! beat, beat! Beat upon mine! you are mine, my sweet! All mine from your pretty blue eyes to your feet, My sweet!"

"A little soul scarce fledged for earth Takes wing with heaven again for goal, Even while we hailed as fresh from birth A little soul."