VII
Offspring
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We know of no blessing so great as the begetting of children that are endowed with understanding.
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Behold the man whose children bear an unstained character: no evil will touch him in any of his seven reincarnations.
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Children are the veritable riches of a man: for they pass to him by their own acts all the merits that they acquire.
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Sweeter verily than ambrosia is the plain soup bespattered by the tender hands of one’s own children.
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The touch of children is the delight of the body: the delight of the ear is the hearing of their speech.
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The flute is sweet and the guitar dulcet: so say they who have not heard the babbling speech of their little ones.
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What is the duty of the father to his son? It is to make him worthy to sit in the front rank in the assembly.
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To find oneself eclipsed in intelligence by one’s children is a delight to all the world.
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Great is the joy of the mother when a male child is born unto her: but greater far is her delight when she heareth him called worthy.
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What is the duty of the son to his father? It is to make the world ask, For what austerities of his hath he been blessed with such a son?