What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child.
George Bernard ShawRead
Parentage is a very important profession, but no test of fitness for it is ever imposed in the interest of the children.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Parenting is crucial yet lacks formal standards to determine who should be a parent.
George Bernard Shaw emphasizes the significance of parenting as a profession that shapes the future generation, yet highlights the absence of any formal assessments to gauge an individual's suitability for this vital role. This raises important questions about societal norms and the responsibilities that come with parenthood, suggesting that the well-being of children may be compromised by unfit parenting.
Themes
ParentingChildrenResponsibilityFitnessProfession
In practice
Example use cases
During a parenting workshop discussing standards for raising children.
More from George Bernard Shaw
All quotes βMarriage is good enough for the lower classes: they have facilities for desertion that are denied to us.
George Bernard ShawRead
Forgive him, for he believes that the customs of his tribe are the laws of nature!
George Bernard ShawRead
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?
George Bernard ShawRead
Treat a friend as a person who may someday become your enemy; an enemy as a person who may someday become your friend.
George Bernard ShawRead
The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality.
George Bernard ShawRead
Similar quotes
Kids are a great analogy. You want your kids to grow up, and you don't want your kids to grow up. You want your kids to become independent of you, but it's also a parent's worst nightmare: That they won't need you. It's like the real tragedy of parenting.
Jonathan Safran FoerRead
She hated being a nobody and like all children, adopted or not, I have had to live out some of her unlived life. We do that for our parents - we don't really have any choice.
Jeanette WintersonRead
In the family sandwich, the older people and the younger ones can recognize one another as the bread. Those in the middle are, for a time, the meat.
Anna QuindlenRead
My father was the quintessential husband and dad.
Sidney PoitierRead
The great danger for family life, in the midst of any society whose idols are pleasure, comfort and independence, lies in the fact that people close their hearts and become selfish.
Pope John Paul IiRead
Whenever I feel like I'm getting too far away from where I need to be, I think about my sons and the legacy I have to leave for them - and it always brings me back to reality.
Dwyane WadeRead