[title]Family quotes[/title] [description]Welcome to our family quotes section! Here you'll find some of the funniest (and wisest) quotes on the subject of family life![/description]
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Latest post Tue, Oct 21 2003 7:40 PM by Usenet. 1 replies.
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Charles M. Strauss    716426 Tue, 21 Oct 03 06:20 PM

All AUE,
I am trying (with, so far, a complete lack of success) to find a reference to the source of the following lines, attributed to Hesiod:

"I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words... When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise (disrespectful) and impatient of restraint".
This translation appears to be everywhere dense on the Internet, but I can't seem to find it in Hesiod. I've tried Bartlett's and the reference librarian at my local library without success. I don't think it's a figment of the Internet's imagination, since Bertrand Russell, in (I think) one of the pieces in "Unpopular Essays", paraphrases this quotation and attributes it to Hesiod.

Can anyone help me find the source of this quotation?

(I apologise if I have ever posted this request before - I was looking for this quotation several years ago and cannot remember if I ever tried to invoke the aid of the AUE membership.)
/cms
Donna Richoux    716521 Tue, 21 Oct 03 07:40 PM

"All AUE, I am trying (with, so far, a complete lack of success) to find a reference to the source ... this quotation several years ago and cannot remember if I ever tried to invoke the aid of the AUE membership.)"

Charles, we've discussed four or five very similar quotes in the last month or two, all attributed to different historical eras and figures. Some are known to be bogus and we assume the others are also, by association. Here's a pretty authoritative debunking, from a librarian group:
http://listserv.dom.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind0208&L=STUMPERS-L&P=R6193

As you'll see, evidence suggests that the notion was invented for a 1933 novel called The Werewolf of Paris .
You can find the threads where we discussed this from this data:

Subject: Re: Don't look here for open discussion
Date: Sun, 31 Aug 2003 22:54:48 +0200
Message-ID:

Subject: Re: Apocryphal texts about disobedient children irevisited Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2003 22:45:09 +0200
Message-ID:

Best Donna Richoux
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