QuoteProject
Anytime a child is born, the old people look in his face and ask him if he's the One.
Ernest Gaines
ShareWTF𝕏

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

We wait till now? Now, when we're old men, we get to be brave?
Ernest GainesRead
I 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

I came back to work when my children were two months old. At that early age, they seem to have little awareness of anybody but their Raggedy Ann dolls, so it wasn't a matter of them missing me. I was missing them.
Jane PauleyRead
I would have been a terrible mother because I'm basically a very selfish human being. Not that that has stopped most people going off and having children.
Katharine HepburnRead
Workers should have Sundays off because Sunday is for the family. Calling for Sundays to be a holiday.
Pope FrancisRead
When my mother left home, her family sat shivah for her, more because my father was not Jewish than because he was black.
James McbrideRead
As a parent, it's my responsibility to equip my child to do this - to grieve when grief is necessary and to realize that life is still profoundly beautiful and worth living despite the fact that we inevitably lose one another and that life ends, and we don't know what happens after death.
Sam HarrisRead
First thing in the morning, we're really tired, and we look at each other and we wonder, 'Are we ever going to get sleep?' And yet, it doesn't matter if you don't get sleep. It's an honor to take care of them.
Angelina JolieRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.