"Life Among the Savages is a disrespectful memoir of my children"

"Life is life - whether in a cat, or dog or man. There is no difference there between a cat or a man. The idea of difference is a human conception for man's own advantage"

"Plunge boldly into the thick of life, and seize it where you will, it is always interesting"

"Raising children is an incredibly hard and risky business in which no cumulative wisdom is gained: each generation repeats the mistakes the previous one made"

"Cats and monkeys; monkeys and cats; all human life is there"

"Children begin by loving their parents; after a time they judge them; rarely, if ever, do they forgive them"

"If children grew up according to early indications, we should have nothing but geniuses"

"Telling a teenager the facts of life is like giving a fish a bath"

"It is a useless life that is not consecrated to a great ideal. It is like a stone wasted on the field without becoming a part of any edifice"

"Business is the salt of life"

"Parents are the bones on which children cut their teeth"