Leo Tolstoy
Translated by
Dmitry Fadeyev
All the greatest possibilities are in children.
And Jesus said, “Most certainly I tell you, unless you turn and become as little children, you will in no way enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Whoever therefore humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him if a huge millstone were hung around his neck and that he were sunk in the depths of the sea.”
— Matthew 18:3–4, 6
I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you hid these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for so it was well-pleasing in your sight.
— Matthew 11:25–26
Why are children higher than most people morally? Because their reason is corrupted neither by superstition, nor temptations, nor sins. Nothing stands on their path to perfection. Whereas for adults there are sins, temptations and superstitions.
Children need only live, whereas adults must struggle.
How terrible the world would be if at all times there were not new children being born, bringing with them innocence and the possibility of every perfection!
— John Ruskin
Blessed is childhood, which, amid the earth’s cruelty, gives even a little of heaven. These eighty thousand daily births, of which statistics speaks, constitute a kind of outpouring of innocence and freshness, which battles not only against the destruction of the kin, but also against human corruption and the pandemic of sin. All the kind feelings that are evoked near a cradle and near children constitute one of the mysteries of the great Providence; destroy this refreshing dew, and like a fire the whirlwind of egotistical passions will parch human society.
Suppose humankind was composed of a billion immortal beings, whose number would neither increase nor decrease, where and what would we be, great God! We would undoubtedly become a thousand times more learned, but we would be a thousand times worse. Knowledge would accumulate, but all the virtue, which was born of suffering and devotion, i.e. family and society, would be dead. There would be no recompense.
Blessed is childhood for the good that it gives on its own, and for the good that it produces without knowing or wishing it, simply by compelling and allowing itself to be loved. It is solely because of it that a particle of heaven is visible to us here on earth. Blessed too is death. Angels do not need to be born or to die in order to live; but for human beings, both the former and the latter are necessary and inexorable.
— Amiel
O Lord, our Lord! … From the lips of babes and infants you have established strength, because of your adversaries, that you might silence the enemy and the avenger.
— Psalm 8:2
Childhood often holds a truth with its feeble fingers, which the grasp of manhood cannot retain, which it is the pride of utmost age to recover.
— John Ruskin
A child guards his soul as an eyelid guards the eye, letting no one enter it without the key of love.
Children know the truth the same way that people often know a foreign language, even though they cannot speak it. They will not be able to tell you what the good is, but they will unfailingly turn away from everything that is bad. All kinds of pretense can deceive the smartest, most perceptive person, but the most limited child will see through it and turn away, no matter how skillful the dissimulation may be.
Can there be anything more perverse than to immediately start talking about another world to those who had just entered this one?
— Kant
Is there a time better than childhood, when two best virtues—innocent gaiety and the need for love—are your only motivations in life?
Respect every human being, but respect children a hundred times more, and take care not to disturb the virgin purity of their souls.