Paolo Bacigalupi Quotes

As an adult, I can't blame my parents any more.

Kids are a great analogy. You want your kids to grow up, and you don't want your kids to grow up. You want your kids to become independent of you, but it's also a parent's worst nightmare: That they won't need you. It's like the real tragedy of parenting.

Grown-ups are afraid for children. It's not children who are afraid.

I wasn't afraid of anything until I had a kid. Then I was terrified because immediately I could imagine a hundred ways in which I could not protect him.

There are many tough conversations, but one of the most difficult is between a parent and an adolescent daughter, partly because as a parent we are almost always attempting to relate to someone who is no longer there.

True adulthood occurs the moment we grasp that the people who raised us do not exist solely for our comfort and reassurance. From that point on, the steady stream of unconditional love and support we've expected from them all our lives has to flow both ways.

I was terrified of being a mum because I didn't think I'd ever be grown up enough.

No adult can bear a child’s burden or grow up in his stead.

If fathers aren't growing up, I would challenge them to want to be a father that is present in the home, so that their kids have that identity.

...thinking that the world was like an orange, that I could split it open with my thumbnail and find a whole different world, the grown-up world, the secrets beneath the skin.

Every father says the same thing: “Where's your mother?”

When you're young you try to be methodical and philosophical, but reality keeps breaking in.

In the lives of children, pumpkins turn into coaches, mice and rats turn into men. When we grow up, we realize it is far more common for men to turn into rats.

My kids are very young. I'm sure there's a world of horror for me to worry about as they get older.

The question isn't so much "Are you parenting the right way?" as it is: "Are you the adult that you want your child to grow up to be?"

We've forgotten what it's like not to be able to reach the light switch. We've forgotten a lot of the monsters that seemed to livein our room at night. Nevertheless, those memories are still there, somewhere inside us, and can sometimes be brought to the surface by events, sights, sounds, or smells. Children, though, can never have grown-up feelings until they've been allowed to do the growing.

Remember when we used to worry about some weirdo having a razor blade inside an apple on Halloween? Not anymore. Like a kid today would eat an apple.

And if I ever have any children of my own, no matter how unhappy I may be, I am not going to let them have any cares until they grow up.

I think that before my son was born, I didn't have a strong sensation for future. I was living in this kind of never-ending present.

When you're a parent, you're just like, God, I hope they like me when they grow up. I hope that I did a good job. I hope they're gonna be happy.

I envy you going to Oxford: it is the most flower-like time of one's life. One sees the shadow of things in silver mirrors. Later on, one sees the Gorgon's head, and one suffers, because it does not turn one to stone.

It's no wonder we're all such a mess, is it? We're like Tom Hanks in Big. Little boys and girls trapped in adult bodies and forced to get on with it.

The parents age must be remembered, both for joy and anxiety.

Let there be nothing harmonious about our children's playthings, lest they grow up expecting peace and order, and be eaten alive.

Unlike Western parents, reminding my child of Lord Voldemort didn't bother me.