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

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

"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"

"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"

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

"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"

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

"Business is the salt of life"

"As soon as there is life there is danger"

"The soul is healed by being with children"