Meaning of this proverb is:
It is the spontaneously unselfish love of the small child which makes the transition to full adulthood possible. Of course, this love does often tend to be overshadowed for a time by the almost too rapid growth of the competitively-trained adolescent intellect, and this unbalance of mind and heart surely accounts for a great many of the pains of adolescence. Yet to the degree that we guide our actions by our earliest, grandly unselfish, outward-reaching love -- now immensely strengthened and broadened by our knowledge and experience -- by so much does the true adult come to birth within us.
I believe in this lies the inner meaning of the old saying that the child is the father of the man
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