“ Children are of the number of things that are not so much to be desired, especially now that it would be so hard to make them good ”
Michel de Montaigne, The Essays of Michel de Montaigne (1580). copy citation
| Author | Michel de Montaigne |
|---|---|
| Source | The Essays of Michel de Montaigne |
| Topic | desire good |
| Date | 1580 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | Translated by Charles Cotton |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3600/3600-h/3600-h.htm |
Context
“I am content to be in Fortune’s power by circumstances properly necessary to my being, without otherwise enlarging her jurisdiction over me; and have never thought that to be without children was a defect that ought to render life less complete or less contented: a sterile vocation has its conveniences too. Children are of the number of things that are not so much to be desired, especially now that it would be so hard to make them good:
“Bona jam nec nasci licet, ita corrupta Bunt semina;” [“Nothing good can be born now, the seed is so corrupt.” —Tertullian, De Pudicita.]
and yet they are justly to be lamented by such as lose them when they have them.”
source
