--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Fables should be taught as fables, myths…" description: "\"Fables should be taught as fables, myths as myths, and miracles as poetic fantasies. To teach superstitions as truths is a most terrible thing. The chi..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/db2/hypatia-42995_accepting_fables-should-be-taught-as-fables-myths_1009539.jpg" --- # Fables should be taught as fables, myths as myths, and… ![“Fables should be taught as fables, myths as myths, and miracles as poetic fantasies. To teach superstitions as truths is a most terrible thing. The child mind accepts and believes them, and only through great pain and perhaps tragedy can he be in after years relieved of them.” quote by Hypatia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/db2/hypatia-42995_accepting_fables-should-be-taught-as-fables-myths_1009539.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/db2/hypatia-42995_accepting_fables-should-be-taught-as-fables-myths_1009539.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/db2/hypatia-42995_accepting_fables-should-be-taught-as-fables-myths_1009539.jpg) > “Fables should be taught as fables, myths as myths, and miracles as poetic fantasies. To teach superstitions as truths is a most terrible thing. The child mind accepts and believes them, and only through great pain and perhaps tragedy can he be in after years relieved of them.” [Hypatia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hypatia/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Teaching myths as facts misleads children, causing lasting harm that may only be healed through painful realization. **In simple terms:** Present myths as myths to avoid harming children. Key Takeaway Teach truth, not myth. Themes education truth childhood myths beliefs Mood cautious reflective Type ethical pedagogical When to use this quote - school curricula - parental guidance - media literacy - religious instruction Key Concepts epistemology psychology pedagogy Questions to Reflect On - How can we balance imagination with factual teaching? - What are the risks of labeling cultural stories as mere fantasies? A Different Perspective Some argue that myths can inspire imagination even if not factual. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Accepting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/accepting/) [Believe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/believe/) [Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/) [Fables](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fables/) [Fables Myths](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fables-myths-2182987/) [Fables Taught](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fables-taught-2182985/) [Fantasy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fantasy/) [Great](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/great/) [Libertarian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/libertarian/) [Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind/) [Miracle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/miracle/) [Miracles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/miracles/) [Myth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/myth/) [Myths](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/myths/) [Pain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pain/) [Poetic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetic/) [Relieved](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/relieved/) [Should](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/should/) [Storytelling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/storytelling/) [Superstitions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/superstitions/) [Superstitions Truths](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/superstitions-truths-2182988/) [Taught](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/taught/) [Taught Fables](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/taught-fables-2182986/) [Teach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/teach/) [Teach Superstitions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/teach-superstitions-1254523/) [Terrible](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/terrible/) [Tragedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tragedy/) [Truth is](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth-is/) [Years](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/years/) ## Related quotes > [“Fables should be taught as fables, myths as myths, and miracles as poetic fancies. 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Columns,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/washington-irving/history-fades-into-fable-fact-becomes-clouded-with-doubt-and/) [Washington Irving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/washington-irving/) > [ \[Jorge Luis Borges\] had short stories, and I was trying to learn how to write short stories, and then he had these things in… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sandra-cisneros/jorge-luis-borges-had-short-stories-and-i-was-trying-to-learn-how-to/) [Sandra Cisneros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sandra-cisneros/) > [The smaller the mind, the greater the ego.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-clancy/the-smaller-the-mind-the-greater-the-ego/) [Tom Clancy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-clancy/) > [Equals make the best friends.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop/equals-make-the-best-friends/) [Aesop](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop/) > [ We are full of dreams \[...\] We long for the unattainable. We believe in the nonsense of fables. There is no pure love; there… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-gemmell/we-are-full-of-dreams-we-long-for-the-unattainable-we-believe-in-the/) [David Gemmell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-gemmell/) > [“Fables from before the Anaheiming.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/fables-from-before-the-anaheiming/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [Imagine an American Hans Christian Andersen, conceive of the Brothers Grimm living in Missouri, and you will approximate Howard Schwartz, a fable-maker and fable-gatherer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-ozick/imagine-an-american-hans-christian-andersen-conceive-of-the-brothers/) [Cynthia Ozick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cynthia-ozick/) > [“ The Prodigal Son They gave the deep end of their heart--a hue of crimson red, They whispered their desire and offered up their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shannon-l-alder/the-prodigal-son-they-gave-the-deep-end-of-their-heart-a-hue-of/) [Shannon L. Alder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shannon-l-alder/) > [I would rather have written Fables in Slang than be President.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-allen-white/i-would-rather-have-written-fables-in-slang-than-be-president/) [William Allen White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-allen-white/) > [No theory is too false, no fable too absurd, no superstition too degrading for acceptance when it has become embedded in common belief. Men…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-george/no-theory-is-too-false-no-fable-too-absurd-no-superstition-too/) [Henry George](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-george/) > [There are, after all, atheists who say they wish the fable were true but are unable to suspend the requisite disbelief, or who have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/there-are-after-all-atheists-who-say-they-wish-the-fable-were-true/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [Poetical taste is the only magician whose wand is not broken. No hand, except its own, can dissolve the fabric of beauty in which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-aris-willmott/poetical-taste-is-the-only-magician-whose-wand-is-not-broken-no-hand/) [Robert Aris Willmott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-aris-willmott/) ## More by Hypatia > [“To rule by fettering the mind through fear of punishment in another world, is just as base as to use force... Reserve your right…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hypatia/to-rule-by-fettering-the-mind-through-fear-of-punishment-in-another/) [Hypatia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hypatia/) > [To rule by fettering the mind through fear of punishment in another world is just as base as to use force.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hypatia/to-rule-by-fettering-the-mind-through-fear-of-punishment-in-another-2/) [Hypatia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hypatia/) > [To teach superstitions as truth is a most terrible thing,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hypatia/to-teach-superstitions-as-truth-is-a-most-terrible-thing/) [Hypatia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hypatia/) > [In fact men will fight for a superstition quite as quickly as for a living truth - often more so, since a superstition is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hypatia/in-fact-men-will-fight-for-a-superstition-quite-as-quickly-as-for-a/) [Hypatia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hypatia/) > [Life is an unfoldment, and the further we travel the more truth we can comprehend.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hypatia/life-is-an-unfoldment-and-the-further-we-travel-the-more-truth-we-can/) [Hypatia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hypatia/) > [He who influences the thought of his times, influences all the times that follow. He has made his impress on eternity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hypatia/he-who-influences-the-thought-of-his-times-influences-all-the-times/) [Hypatia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hypatia/) > [Life is an unfoldment, and the further we travel the more truth we can comprehend. To understand the things that are at our door…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hypatia/life-is-an-unfoldment-and-the-further-we-travel-the-more-truth-we-can-2/) [Hypatia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hypatia/) > [Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hypatia/reserve-your-right-to-think-for-even-to-think-wrongly-is-better-than/) [Hypatia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hypatia/) [Explore all 9 Hypatia quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hypatia/) ## More Accepting quotes > [From Augustine down, theologians have tried to compel people to accept their special interpretation of the Scripture, and the tortures of the inquisition, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matilda-joslyn-gage/from-augustine-down-theologians-have-tried-to-compel-people-to-accept/) [Matilda Joslyn Gage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matilda-joslyn-gage/) > [Laughing, laughing, laughing, laughing! 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