“Books, the first books heard or read, are not about life; they are life.”

On the living power of early reading for children · Talk, Imagination and Children's Reading (1920)

• Books
• Childhood
• Reading

“They are not afraid to put incongruous things together. They adore the whimsical, the grotesque even.”

On children's fearless creative associations · Talk, Imagination and Children's Reading (1920)

• Childhood
• Creativity
• Imagination

“I don't mean to be sentimental about children, I want to be just. But I do believe that beauty is often real to them when we cannot see it, because they have not yet had time to get tired of anything.”

On children's fresh capacity to perceive beauty · Talk, Imagination and Children's Reading (1920)

• Beauty
• Childhood
• Wonder

“What is it people lose when they grow up? Simplicity and insight. They get wise with so many little details called facts that they lose the broad view. It's like getting into a fog.”

On how adult knowledge can obscure clearer vision · Talk, Imagination and Children's Reading (1920)

• Childhood
• Insight
• Knowledge

“If we once realize how children see things we can never patronize them again.”

On the unique perception of childhood that adults overlook · Talk, Imagination and Children's Reading (Hampshire Bookshop, 1920)

• Childhood
• Imagination
• Perception