We wait till now? Now, when we're old men, we get to be brave?
Ernest GainesRead
Anytime a child is born, the old people look in his face and ask him if he's the One.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The birth of a child evokes hope and expectations from the older generation about the child's potential impact on the future.
In this quote, Ernest Gaines reflects on the wisdom and expectations that the older generation places on newborns. The act of older people looking into a child's face and questioning if the child is 'the One' suggests a deep cultural belief that each new life has the potential to bring about significant change or to fulfill a vital role in the community, symbolizing hope, legacy, and continuity through generations.
Themes
ChildBirthHopeFutureLegacy
In practice
Example use cases
During a family gathering, one might use this quote to spark a discussion about the hopes and dreams parents have for their children.
More from Ernest Gaines
All quotes βI was raised by a lady that was crippled all her life but she did everything for me and she raised me. She washed our clothes, cooked our food, she did everything for us. I don't think I ever heard her complain a day in her life. She taught me responsibility towards my brother and sisters and the community.
Ernest GainesRead
...my heart may have been in it but my soul was not.
Ernest GainesRead
Everything's been said, but it needs saying again.
Ernest GainesRead
Question everything. Every stripe, every star, every word spoken. Everything.
Ernest GainesRead
The Six Golden Rules of Writing: Read, read, read, and write, write, write.
Ernest GainesRead
Similar quotes
My mother was a reader, and she read to us. She read us Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde when I was six and my brother was eight; I never forgot it.
Stephen KingRead
Mutual respect and mutual listening are the foundations of harmony within the family.
Gautama BuddhaRead
All mothers are mothers of great people, and it is not their fault that life later disappoints them.
Boris PasternakRead
The innocence of such children doesn't answer our deepest questions about this vale of tears to which we are condemned, but it helps to dispel them. That is the secret to family life.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
For all the ghosts and corpses that shall never know the breath of our children so long for the sacrifice and endurance of our mothers and the sustained breath of our fathers we live
Saul WilliamsRead
I'm a dad, I'm a husband, I'm an activist, I'm a writer and I'm just a student of the world.
Michael J. FoxRead