Quote#Children
You may indulge any childish propensity with less injury to the…
Quote bySarah Josepha Hale · 1788–1879
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: "Sketches of American Character: The Fate of a Favorite"; Ladies' Magazine, vol. 2, no. 12 (December 1829), p. 68.
English (original)
You may indulge any childish propensity with less injury to the intellect than that of gluttony. Eating to excess constantly will deaden or destroy the energies of the mind, while those of the animal are increased, till the immortal becomes perfectly swinish—and yet many tender, delicate mothers seem to think, that to make their children eat is all that is requisite to make them great.
— Sarah Josepha Hale
More from Sarah Josepha Hale
A day of bliss is quickly told, A thousand would not make us old As one of sorrow doth— It is by cares, by woes and tears, We round the sum of human years——
There is no influence so powerful as that of the mother. ... But next in rank and efficacy to that pure and holy source of moral influence, is that of the schoolmaster.
Readers soon tire of prefaces, and skip them, and so the labor of writing them is lost.
All that I intended was, that self-control, in every station and to every individual, is indispensable, if people would retain that equanimity of mind, which depending on self-respect, is the essential of contentment and happiness.
Her husband requested she would read, and she determined to read; her husband wished her to talk, and she resolved to talk. ... Then she had the habit into which your poor conversationalists usually fall, namely, asking questions.
Americans have two ardent passions; the love of liberty, and love of distinction. These passions mutually stimulate and increase each other ; the enjoyment of equal rights as citizens giving every man a chance of becoming eminent, and that …