Everything in nature is the result of fixed laws.
You will be astonished to find how the whole mental disposition of your children changes with advancing years. A young child and the same when nearly grown, sometimes differ almost as much as do a caterpillar and butterfly.
Interpretation
What this quote means
As children grow, their mindset and behavior evolve significantly, much like a caterpillar transforms into a butterfly.
This quote by Charles Darwin highlights the dramatic changes in mental disposition that children undergo as they mature. Just as a caterpillar undergoes a profound transformation into a butterfly, children move from a simple, often unrefined way of thinking in early childhood to a more complex and nuanced understanding as they grow older. This evolutionary perspective emphasizes the importance of nurturing their development during these critical years.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a parenting workshop to illustrate the importance of adapting to children's changing needs.
More from Charles Darwin
All quotes →The highest possible stage in moral culture is when we recognize that we ought to control our thoughts.
I am quite conscious that my speculations run beyond the bounds of true science....It is a mere rag of an hypothesis with as many flaw[s] & holes as sound parts.
We cannot fathom the marvelous complexity of an organic being; but on the hypothesis here advanced this complexity is much increased. Each living creature must be looked at as a microcosm--a little universe, formed of a host of self-propagating organisms, inconceivably minute and as numerous as the stars in heaven.
I have called this principle, by which each slight variation, if useful, is preserved, by the term of Natural Selection.
we are always slow in admitting any great change of which we do not see the intermediate steps
Similar quotes
The principal goal of education is to create men who are capable of doing new things, not simply of repeating what other generations have done-men who are creative, inventive, and discovers. The second goal of education is to form minds which can be critical, can verify, and not accept everything they are offered.
Besides language and music, it [mathematics] is one of the primary manifestations of the free creative power of the human mind, and it is the universal organ for world understanding through theoretical construction. Mathematics must therefore remain an essential element of the knowledge and abilities which we have to teach, of the culture we have to transmit, to the next generation.
My message was 'Think African. Make schools read African history.'
In order to learn, one must change one's mind.
How many cities have revealed themselves to me in the marches I undertook in the pursuit of books!
Once it is recognized that productive thinking in any area of cognition is perceptual thinking, the central function of art in general education will become evident.