once a man, twice a child

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˌwʌn(t)s‿ə ˈmæn ˌtwaɪs‿ə ˈt͡ʃaɪld/

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• Rhymes: -aɪld

once a man, twice a child

1. A man is born as a child, grows to adulthood, and consequently enters old age, when he deteriorates and reverts to a childlike state.

   Synonym: once a man, twice a boy

   Hypernym: once an adult, twice a child

   Coordinate term: once a woman, twice a child

   • 1549 March 25 (Gregorian calendar), Hugh Latimer, “Sermon VI. Being the Second Sermon Preached before King Edward VI. March the Fifteenth.”, in The Sermons of the Right Reverend Father in God, Master Hugh Latimer, Bishop of Worcester. , volume I, London: J. Scott, , published 1758, →OCLC, page 83:

     King David being in his childhood, an old man in his ſecond childhood, for all old men are tvvice children, as the proverb is, An old man tvvice a child‡; it happened vvith him, as it doth oftentimes, vvhen vvicked men of a King's childhood take occaſion of evil. / Footnote ‡: Once a Man, tvvice a Child.

     The spelling has been modernized.

   • 1827, “The Progress of Art”, in William Hone, editor, The Table Book, London: or William Hone, by Hunt and Clarke, , →OCLC, page 745, column 2:

     In verification of the old saying, "Once a man, twice a child," Mr. Hood tells of "A School for Adults,"—and gives a picture of aged men, baldheaded and wigged, whose education had been neglected, studying their A, B, C.

   • 1861, “a Wykehamist” , “The Power of Proverbs to Impress”, in Papers on Preaching and Public Speaking. , London: Bell and Daldy, , →OCLC, page 104:

     Again, it is a saying, ‘once a man twice a child,’ but, of cases without number, it may justly be said, once a man always a man; tens of thousands there are whom this second childhood toucheth not, whose inward vigour evidently increaseth as their outward strength decays, […]

   • 1888 March, Eliza Allen, “Mother. A Few Words for the Young.”, in Charlotte M[ary] Yonge, editor, The Monthly Packet of Evening Readings for Members of the English Church, volume XV (Third Series), part LXXXVII, London: Walter Smith and Innes (late Mozley), , →OCLC, page 279:

     The time will come, dear children, when the mother becomes as a little child. Once a man, twice a child. This must happen to us all if we live to a great age. Bear then, dear ones, with a mother's infirmities, weaknesses, aye, even petulances; you may come to this yourselves.

   • 1889, Oscar F Safford, “Toward Evening”, in Hosea Ballou: a Marvellous Life-story, 3rd edition, Boston, Mass.: Universalist Publishing House, →OCLC, page 243:

     “I am an old man,” he said; “I avail myself of the privilege of an old man,—to be a child. ‘Once a man, twice a child.’ […]”

   • 1971, Plays and Players, volume 19, London: Hansom Books, →ISSN, →OCLC, scene iii, page 64, column 1:

     dora: Look at all these games. Once a man, twice a child, my mother used to say. / ansell: What did she mean by that? / dora: She meant that a man grows from a boy, to a man, to a boy again.

   • 1980 June 10, Bob Marley (lyrics and music), “Real Situation”, in Uprising, performed by Bob Marley and the Wailers, New York, N.Y.: Island Records, →OCLC:

     Give them an inch, they take a yard / Give them a yard, they take a mile / Once a man and twice a child / And everything is just for a while

   • 2005, Camyl Sosa Belanger, Eva Gabor, an Amazing Woman: ‘Unscrupulous’, New York, N.Y.: iUniverse, →ISBN, page 201:

     The child in people sometimes comes out after one reaches a certain stage in life, which makes the saying, "Once a man twice a child" to be the truth.

• once a woman, twice a child

• retrogenesis
• second childhood