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English
Alternative forms
Etymology
Found as a popular saying from 1840 (See Parent's Monitor and Young People's Friend
Volume 1, p. 47 ; made famous by a poem (1865) by William Ross Wallace.
Proverb
the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world
- Women, particularly mothers, have a decisive influence on the future direction of society because they raise and nurture the next generation.
1865, William Ross Wallace, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle:Blessings on the hand of women! . . .
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.
1892, Kate Douglas Wiggin, chapter 2, in Children's Rights and Others: A Book of Nursery Logic:We talk a great deal about the strength of early impressions. I wonder if we mean all we say; we do not live up to it, at all events. "In childish play deep meaning lies." "The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world." "Give me the first six years of a child's life, and I care not who has the rest."
1922, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “Education and Sex in Man, Woman and Child”, in Fantasia of the Unconscious, New York, N.Y.: Thomas Seltzer, →OCLC, page 136:Woman meanwhile becomes the fearless, inwardly relentless, determined positive party. She grips the responsibility. The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. Nay, she makes man discover that cradles should not be rocked, in order that her hands may be left free.
- 1981 Nov. 15, Paul A. Colinvaux, "Women's Work" (book review of The Woman That Never Evolved by Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, New York Times (retrieved 26 Oct 2012):
- Men rationalize their dominant estate: Woman's lot is to be the homemaker, the child raiser, the provider of sons; the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.
2004 March 8, “Editorial: Restoring women's dignity”, in Ceylon Daily News, Sri Lanka, retrieved 26 October 2012:President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga . . . quoted Kenyan Bishop Ndimbe's memorable words: "Train a man, you train an individual, train a woman you build a nation." This is the same as saying that the "hand that rocks the cradle rules the world".
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References