What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child.
George Bernard ShawRead
The natural term of the affection of the human animal for its offspring is six years.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that the instinctive emotional bond between parents and their children has a natural duration of about six years.
George Bernard Shaw's quote implies that the profound affection and attachment that parents feel towards their children has a biological or instinctual limitation, positing that the most intense emotional connection typically lasts around six years. This could suggest a transition in parental roles or relationships as the child grows older and becomes more independent, reflecting a natural evolution in familial dynamics.
In practice
A parent quoting this at a parenting seminar to discuss the nature of emotional attachment.
What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child.
Marriage is good enough for the lower classes: they have facilities for desertion that are denied to us.
Forgive him, for he believes that the customs of his tribe are the laws of nature!
Those who talk most about the blessings of marriage and the constancy of its vows are the very people who declare that if the chain were broken and the prisoners left free to choose, the whole social fabric would fly asunder. You cannot have the argument both ways. If the prisoner is happy, why lock him in? If he is not, why pretend that he is?
Treat a friend as a person who may someday become your enemy; an enemy as a person who may someday become your friend.
The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality.
Having children, they're not your property. They need to figure out their own views. I think my daughters have a pretty healthy self-awareness, but I can't speak on their behalf.
Jen and I were accustomed to our father's last-will-and-testament diction, and were at times free to interrupt Atticus for a translation when it was beyond our understanding.
Having my son has changed so much of what I dream about. It used to be about business, business, what's the next deal? What's the next movie? Now it's about him.
They are not royal. They just happen to have me as their aunt.
The maternal duty of suckling her own children, prescribed to mothers by hygienists, is based on a physiological principle: the mother's milk nourishes an infant more perfectly than any other.
I regret not taking my 83-year-old mother to the Oscars the year I won. She deserved the Oscar for giving up so much for me.
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