the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.43 in modern English
67
Scrabble Score
38
Letters
3
Syllables
14
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "Blessings on the hand of women! . . . For the hand that rocks the cradle Is the hand that rules the world."
- "We talk a great deal about the strength of early impressions. I wonder if we mean all we say; we do not live up to it, at all events. "In childish play deep meaning lies." "The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world." "Give me the first six years of a child's life, and I care not who has the rest.""
- "Woman meanwhile becomes the fearless, inwardly relentless, determined positive party. She grips the responsibility. The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. Nay, she makes man discover that cradles should not be rocked, in order that her hands may be left free."
- "Men rationalize their dominant estate: Woman's lot is to be the homemaker, the child raiser, the provider of sons; the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world."
- "President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga . . . quoted Kenyan Bishop Ndimbe's memorable words: "Train a man, you train an individual, train a woman you build a nation." This is the same as saying that the "hand that rocks the cradle rules the world"."
Etymology
Found as a popular saying from 1840 (See Parent's Monitor and Young People's Friend Volume 1, p. 47 https://www.google.com/books/edition/Parent_s_Monitor_and_Young_People_s_Frie/wv8XAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22hand+that+rocks+the+cradle+rules%22&pg=PA47&printsec=frontcover); made famous by a poem (1865) by William Ross Wallace.