…there is no straightforward negotiation with a four year old…

A little rebellion is good now and then.

If parents wish to preserve childhood for their own children, they must conceive of parenting as an act of rebellion against culture.

If a child has not been taught to behave properly by the age of four, it will forever be difficult for him or her to make friends.

I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.

Children are most impressed with the importance of a moment when they witness a parent breaking the parents' own rule.

The freeing of an individual, as he grows up, from the authority of his parents is one of the most necessary though one of the most painful results brought about by the course of his development. It is quite essential that that liberation should occur and it may be presumed that it has been to some extent achieved by everyone who has reached a normal state. Indeed, <b>the whole progress of society rests upon the opposition between successive generations.</b> On the other hand, there is a class of neurotics whose condition is recognizably determined by their having failed in this task.

I trust contrariness. ... I simply rebelled at being commanded.

Clear? Huh! Why a four-year-old child could understand this report! Run out and find me a four-year-old child, I can't make head or tail of it.

I rebel; therefore I exist.

There is no veil of ease about the extraordinary effort required to be free. Breaking from conformity and pursuing our own dreams will bring some discord upon us. There will be personal struggle and sacrifice, fear and misfortune, as we try to exert ourselves in the world once more. A vital dedication to our genuine nature and our dreams will annoy people or raise their ire; it will injure egos, step on toes, split relationships, and force interventions with those who try to limit us or stop our march. We might have to confront the bullies, break up with the jerks, leave the poisonous work environment, and challenge others to higher standards.

Progress demands deviation from the norm.

We have the power to defy the selfish genes of our birth and, if necessary, the selfish memes of our indoctrination. . . . We, alone on earth, can rebel against the tyranny of the selfish replicators.

I learned early that crying out in protest could accomplish things. My older brothers and sister had started to school when, sometimes, they would come in and ask for a buttered biscuit or something and my mother, impatiently, would tell them no. But I would cry out and make a fuss until I got what I wanted. I remember well how my mother asked me why I couldn't be a nice boy like Wilfred; but I would think to myself that Wilfred, for being so nice and quiet, often stayed hungry. So early in life, I had learned that if you want something, you had better make some noise.