Every island to a child is a treasure island.
P. D. JamesRead
If from infancy you treat children as gods, they are liable in adulthood to act as devils.
Interpretation
What this quote means
How children are raised significantly impacts their behavior in adulthood.
This quote by P. D. James highlights the consequences of overindulging children and not setting appropriate boundaries. When children are treated with excessive reverence and let to believe they are superior, it may lead to narcissistic and unruly behavior in adulthood, mirroring the challenges encountered with devils rather than respectful individuals.
Themes
ChildrenUpbringingBehaviorParentingMorality
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be referenced in a parenting seminar to highlight the importance of appropriate discipline.
More from P. D. James
All quotes →I believe that political correctness can be a form of linguistic fascism, and it sends shivers down the spine of my generation who went to war against fascism.
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What a child doesn't receive he can seldom later give.
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Open your mind to new experiences, particularly to the study of other people. Nothing that happens to a writer – however happy, however tragic – is ever wasted.
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It was one of those perfect English autumnal days which occur more frequently in memory than in life.
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The weekend break had begun with the usual resentment and had continued with half-repressed ill humour. It was, of course, his fault. He had been more ready to hurt his wife's feelings and deprive his daughter than inconvenience a pub bar full of strangers. He wished there could be one memory of his dead child which wasn't tainted with guilt and regret.
P. D. JamesRead
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