The exact words
“Nay, indeed, if you had your eyes, you might fail of the knowing me: it is a wise father that knows his own child.”William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act 2, Scene 2 (Launcelot Gobbo to his father)
✓ VerifiedFound in a primary source: the original book, speech transcript, letter or recording.
What people get wrong
Common reading
Serious advice that good fathers understand their children.
Serious advice that good fathers understand their children.
Closer to the original
In the play it is comic. Launcelot is playing a trick on his father, who cannot see well enough to recognize him. Later readers gave it a gentler meaning.
In the play it is comic. Launcelot is playing a trick on his father, who cannot see well enough to recognize him. Later readers gave it a gentler meaning.
Timeline
- Ancient GreeceIn Homer's Odyssey, Telemachus says it is a wise child that knows his own father, an old joke about how no one can be completely sure who their father is.
- c. 1596–1597In The Merchant of Venice, the servant Launcelot Gobbo teases his nearly blind father, who does not recognize him, by flipping the proverb around.
Use it in a speech
Shakespeare wrote, it is a wise father that knows his own child. Dad, you always knew exactly what I was up to. That's wisdom, or a very good memory. Happy Father's Day.
~10 secondsto say aloud
Pauseafter “knows his own child”
Best spotthe card or the toast
Questions people ask
Who said “it is a wise father that knows his own child”?
Launcelot Gobbo, a clown, in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, Act 2, Scene 2.
What is the original proverb?
“It is a wise child that knows its own father,” which goes back to Homer's Odyssey.
Cite this quote
These cite the original source directly, so you can use them in an essay or paper. Always check your teacher's required style.
MLAShakespeare, William. The Merchant of Venice. Act 2, Scene 2. c. 1596–1597. Project Gutenberg, www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1515.
APAShakespeare, W. (1597). The Merchant of Venice. Project Gutenberg. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1515
CHICAGOWilliam Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act 2, Scene 2, c. 1596–1597.
IN TEXT (APA)(Shakespeare, 1597)