Butterfly Quote by Woodrow Wilson
“They [the children] live in a world of delightful imagination; they pursue persons and objects that never existed; they make an Argosy laden with gold out of a floating butterfly,--and these stupid [grown-up people] try to translate these things into uninteresting facts.”
About This Quote
Source Speech: Democratic National Convention, 1912
Children’s vivid imaginations create fantastical worlds, yet adults often force them into mundane reality.
In simple terms: Kids imagine; adults constrain.
Encourage adult imagination and resist stifling facts.
Themes
Mood
Type
When to use this quote
- classroom teaching
- parenting
- media creation
- policy making
Key Concepts
Questions to Reflect On
- How can imagination be integrated into learning?
- What value do “uninteresting facts” hold?
Adults may lack the tools to translate imagination constructively.