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I do not believe in the government of the lash. If any one of you ever expects to whip your children again, I want you to have a photograph taken of yourself when you are in the act, with your face red with vulgar anger, and the face of the little child, with eyes swimming in tears and the little chin dimpled with fear, like a piece of water struck by a sudden cold wind. Have the picture taken. If that little child should die, I cannot think of a sweeter way to spend an autumn afternoon than to go out to the cemetery, when the maples are clad in tender gold, and little scarlet runners are coming, like poems of regret, from the sad heart of the earth - and sit down upon the grave and look at your photograph, and think of the flesh now dust that you beat. I tell you it is wrong; it is no way to raise children!

Robert G. Ingersoll#127

FamilyChildrenViolenceAbuse

About this quote

What does it mean?
The author argues against corporal punishment, vividly describing the trauma inflicted on children.
In plain terms
Beating children is wrong and leaves lasting emotional scars.
What can you take from it?
Raise children with love, not violence.

Where it applies

  • parenting
  • child welfare
  • family conflict

Putting it to work

  • non-violent discipline
  • understanding child psychology

Questions to consider

  • What is effective discipline?
  • How does violence affect children?

Another view

Some parents believe discipline requires strict measures.

More from Robert G. Ingersoll

  1. I despise a stingy man. I do not see how it is possible for a man to die worth fifty million of dollars, or ten million of dollars, in a city full of want, whe…

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  2. I do not claim that I have floated level with the heights of thought, or that I have descended to the very depths of things. I simply claim that what ideas I h…

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  3. I believe in the religion of reason - the gospel of this world; in the development of the mind, in the accumulation of intellectual wealth, to the end that man…

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