What good is a cow that neither gives milk nor conceives? Similarly, what is the value of the birth of a son if he becomes neither learned nor a pure devotee of the Lord?

A still-born son is superior to a foolish son endowed with a long life. The first causes grief for but a moment while the latter like a blazing fire consumes his parents in grief for life.

As a single withered tree, if set aflame, causes a whole forest to burn, so does a rascal son destroy a whole family.

My Father's Eyes' is very personal. I realized that the closest I ever came to looking in my father's eyes was when I looked into my son's eyes.

A father who is a chronic debtor, an adulterous mother, a beautiful wife, and an unlearned son are enemies in one's own home.

Those parents who do not educate their sons are their enemies; for as is a crane among swans, so are ignorant sons in a public assembly.