Instead of something Marriage or Wedding related, I thought I might kick-start a blog with some of my favourite literary quotes that I would consider using as readings or parental messages in a baby naming ceremony…Er, if I were to have another baby, that is.
Ahem.
Children’s books are a goldmine of beautiful morals and life lessons, just waiting to be quoted and misquoted and paraphrased over and over again. Below you’ll find a selection of ten (plus a couple of bonuses that I’ve snuck in through the time-honoured art of cheating) of my favourites, painstakingly whittled down from hundreds of options, and not in any particular order of preference. Feel free to share some of your own in the comments section below!
Ah, Harry Potter. Or, in this case, Rubeus Hagrid. Loveable Hagrid. I’m an old-school Potterhead, and this simple message about being yourself and not bothering about what others think is one I hope to drill right into my kid’s head.
This quote is always guaranteed to make me choke up, though it’s not really a secret that I can’t make it through all of the Pooh stories without crying. And not just any crying, but Ugly Crying. You think that would put me off, but no…they’re so touching! There might be crying but it’s so, so good for the soul.
What did I just say about ugly crying? The classics always deliver. Beautiful.
It’s hard to pick just one Roald Dahl quote, but this one has always been one of my favourite passages. I could relate to it as a child, as a teenager and as an adult. I’d love for my child(ren?) to do the same. (Oh, and as an aside, if you’re considering a more upbeat, tongue-in-cheek baby naming, there’s always “It’s a funny thing about mothers and fathers. Even when their own child is the most disgusting little blister you could ever imagine, they still think that he or she is wonderful.” —Roald Dahl, Matilda)
I couldn’t help myself. Roald Dahl is just too quotable, and this is yet another life lesson that I’d love to pass on to my child(ren?). I’ll stop breaking my own self-imposed rules about one quote per author now, I promise.
Honestly, I wanted to print the entire book/poem. It might be overused, but for a good reason. It’s the perfect piece to quote on almost any occasion. I’ve gifted it to friends when they’ve graduated high school and Uni, I’ve gifted a copy as a light-hearted engagement gift, and I can even imagine using lines from this in a Wedding ceremony… Dr Seuss is another author who I find is just too perfectly quotable and relevant across the board.
The further I get compiling this list, the harder I find it is to choose single quotes from each of these authors. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was one of my favourite stories as a child, and then one of my favourite musicals. Still completely relevant in this day and age, too. Sigh. Oh, the nostalgia…
Okay, I lied about sticking to one quote per author and I’m going for a “two-fer” here, because, as a parent, one of my favourite, lesser-used passages is:
Two is the beginning of the end. You said it, bub. After two comes the potty training, then the school days, then the graduating and getting a real job and oh, to be two again! Not to mention from a parent’s perspective! They start out so tiny, and you think the sleepless nights will never end, and then all of a sudden they’re in a “big boy bed” and you wonder where the time went! But I’ve gotten off topic…
This one might be a contentious one, simply because I know a lot of namby-pamby types get all up in arms about how the story encourages competitiveness or some such rubbish. Honestly, it’s a sweet bedtime story about a Daddy Hare and his son discussing how much they love each other. I used to do the same as a child: I’d stretch my arms out as wide as I could and declare “I love you THIS much!” and the parent -or grandparent- in question would invariably stretch their arms out wider and reply, “Well, I love *you* THIS much!” and we’d giggle and compete until I was distracted by something new and shiny. It’s like a rite of passage to do this with your kids – what better than using this passage in a baby naming ceremony to commemorate that?
Honestly, there are literally thousands of options out there. I drove myself crazy whittling down this list. I’d love for you to comment with your favourites as well!