The books transported her into new worlds and introduced her to amazing people who lived exciting lives.
Roald DahlRead
The adult is the enemy of the child because of the awful process of civilizing this thing that, when it is born, is an animal with no manners, no moral sense at all.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the inherent conflict between the natural instincts of a child and the societal expectations imposed by adults.
Roald Dahl's quote reflects the complex relationship between adults and children, suggesting that the process of civilizing children can often feel antagonistic. Adults impose societal norms and manners on children, who are initially like wild animals, unrestrained by the moral codes and expectations of society. This transformation can be seen as a necessary yet harsh reality, revealing the tension between nature and nurture.
Themes
ChildhoodCivilizationAdultsGrowthMorality
In practice
Example use cases
In a parenting workshop discussing the challenges of raising children with societal expectations.
More from Roald Dahl
All quotes →Matilda said, "Never do anything by halves if you want to get away with it. Be outrageous. Go the whole hog. Make sure everything you do is so completely crazy it's unbelievable.
Roald DahlRead
I asked my mum, who's a very clever psychotherapist, and she says that kids love stories about death; they need it, they need to have stories that deal with death and explain it, as a place to put their fears.
Roald DahlRead
By the time I am nearing the end of a story, the first part will have been reread and altered and corrected at least one hundred and fifty times. I am suspicious of both facility and speed. Good writing is essentially rewriting. I am positive of this.
Roald DahlRead
You seemed so far away," Miss Honey whispered, awestruck. "Oh, I was. I was flying past the stars on silver wings," Matilda said. "It was wonderful.
Roald DahlRead
If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.
Roald DahlRead
Similar quotes
A nation is a society united by a delusion about its ancestry and by common hatred of its neighbours.
William Ralph IngeRead
My lifestyle is a consequence of my wounds. I'm the son of my history.
Jose MujicaRead
The crowning experience of all, for the homecoming man, is the wonderful feeling that, after all he has suffered, there is nothing he need fear anymore—except his God.
Viktor E. FranklRead
It is essential to understand that the U.N.'s strength lies in its values. The values enshrined in the Charter, the values the U.N. stands for, the values all religions respect.
Antonio GuterresRead
There would seem to be nothing more obvious, more tangible and palpable than the present moment. And yet it eludes us completely. All the sadness of life lies in that fact. In the course of a single second, our senses of sight, of hearing, of smell, register (knowingly or not) a swarm of events and a parade of sensations and ideas passes through our head. Each instant represents a little universe, irrevocably forgotten in the next instant.
Milan KunderaRead
I say no body of men are fit to make Presidents, judges and generals, unless they themselves supply the best specimens of the same; and that supplying one or two such specimens illuminates the whole body for a thousand years.
Walt WhitmanRead