It takes a whole VILLAGE to bring up a childNigerian (Igbo and Yoruba) proverb, meaning that the whole community has a role in a
child’s development; it also exists in other African languages.
1989 Miami Herald 21 May (online) We are rallying around the African proverb that
it takes a whole village to raise a child. 1992 New York Times 18 Oct. (online) Our job as
educators is to teach parents to help their kids to identify different solutions to a problem
and to choose the right one.. We in the schools have to work more closely with parents on
a continuous basis. There’s an old saying that it takes a whole village to raise a kid. 1996
H. CLINTON It Takes a Village (title). 2002 ‘Talking Point’ posting on
http://www.news.bbc.co.uk 23 Sept. Children there do not get sick, or suffer from obesity as
they eat fresh food, and due to the culture of ‘it takes a whole village to bring up a child’,
the children are cared for by every one. 2006 British Dental Journal vol. 200 597 There
is, I understand, a proverb to the effect that ‘It takes a whole village to bring up a child.’
It has a folksy sort of feel about it which brings to mind a type of community Elysium
with visions of happy childhoods.. More importantly it suggests that it is possible for
group action to create a positive outcome. children; societyvinegar see HONEY catches more flies than vinegar; from the SWEETEST wine, the
tartest vinegar.
VIRTUE is its own rewardCf. OVID Ex Ponto ii. iii. virtutem pretium.. esse sui, virtue is its own reward.1509 A. BARCLAY Ship of Fools 10 V Vertue hath no rewarde. 1596 SPENSER
Faerie Queene III. xii. Your vertue selfe her owne reward shall breed, Euen immortall
praise, and glory wyde. 1642 BROWNE Religio Medici I. 87 That vertue is her owne
reward, is but a cold principle. 1673 DRYDEN Assignation III. i. Virtue.. is its own
reward: I expect none from you. 1844 DICKENS Martin Chuzzlewit xv. It is creditable to
keep up one’s spirits here. Virtue’s its own reward. 1988 H. MANTEL Eight Months on
Ghazzah Street (1989) 19 His patience was not like other people’s, a rather feeble virtue,
which had, by its nature, to be its own reward. 2002 Spectator 12 Jan. 18 Humble people
lack self-esteem, and chastity is just another sexual dysfunction. Virtue is not so much its
own reward as a condition requiring therapeutic intervention. just deserts; virtuevirtue see also PATIENCE is a virtue.