All the knowledge I possess everyone else can acquire, but my heart is all my own.
Johann Wolfgang Von GoetheRead
There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots, the other, wings.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that providing children with a strong foundation and the freedom to pursue their dreams is essential.
In this quote, Goethe emphasizes the dual responsibility of parents in raising children: to give them 'roots' which represent a sense of security, belonging, and identity, and 'wings' which symbolize the freedom and encouragement to explore their potential and follow their aspirations. This balance is crucial for cultivating well-rounded individuals who feel grounded yet empowered to take flight in life.
In practice
During a parenting workshop on child development.
All the knowledge I possess everyone else can acquire, but my heart is all my own.
Destiny grants us our wishes, but in its own way, in order to give us something beyond our wishes.
There is a courtesy of the heart; it is allied to love. From its springs the purest courtesy in the outward behavior.
I am amazed to see how deliberately I have entangled myself step by step. To have seen my position so clearly, and yet to have acted so like a child!
Seldom in the business and transactions of ordinary life, do we find the sympathy we want.
Know thyself? If I knew myself I would run away.
It means caring for one another in our families: husbands and wives first protect one another, and then, as parents, they care for their children, and children themselves, in time, protect their parents.
Family life is too intimate to be preserved by the spirit of justice. It can only be sustained by a spirit of love which goes beyond justice. Justice requires that we carefully weigh rights and privileges and assure that each member of a community receives his due share. Love does not weigh rights and privileges too carefully because it prompts each to bear the burden of the other.
The natural term of the affection of the human animal for its offspring is six years.
The truth is that all great men have had great mothers. Great women have had, as a rule, great fathers.
My mother was a powerful influence. She made me toe the line. If I didn't have a perfect report card, she showed her disappointment.
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.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.